VIENNA: The European Union submitted a “final text” at talks to salvage a 2015 deal aimed at reining in Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Tehran said Monday it was reviewing the proposals.
Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran and Russia, as well as the United States indirectly, resumed talks on Thursday in Vienna, months after they had stalled.
The European Union has submitted a “final text,” a European official said on Monday. “We worked for four days and today the text is on the table,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
“The negotiation is finished, it’s the final text... and it will not be renegotiated.”
“Now the ball is in the court of the capitals and we will see what happens,” the European official added. “No one is staying in Vienna.”
The official said he hoped to see the “quality” text accepted “within weeks.”
Iran said it was examining the 25-page document.
“As soon as we received these ideas, we conveyed our initial response and considerations,” state news agency IRNA quoted an unnamed foreign ministry official as saying.
“But naturally, these items require a comprehensive review, and we will convey our additional views and considerations.”
On Sunday, Iran demanded the UN nuclear watchdog “completely” resolve questions over nuclear material at undeclared sites.
Iranian sources have suggested a key sticking point has been a probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on traces of nuclear material found at undeclared Iranian sites.
“That has nothing to do with” the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement of 2015, the European official said.
“I hope Iran and the IAEA will reach an agreement because that will facilitate a lot of things.”
The UN agency’s board of governors adopted a resolution in June, censuring Iran for failing to adequately explain the previous discovery of traces of enriched uranium at three previously undeclared sites.
“We believe that the agency should completely resolve the remaining safeguard issues from a technical route by distancing itself from irrelevant and unconstructive political issues, Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Sunday.
Kelsey Davenport, an expert at the Arms Control Association, warned against abandoning the IAEA probe in a bid to revive the JCPOA, which she called “the most effective way to verifiably block Iran’s pathways to nuclear weapons.”
If the United States and the other signatories to the 2015 deal do not support the UN body, it will “undermine the agency’s mandate” and broader non-proliferation goals, she wrote on Twitter.
The EU-coordinated negotiations to revive the JCPOA began in April 2021 before coming to a standstill in March.
The 2015 accord gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its atomic program to guarantee Tehran could not develop a nuclear weapon — something it has always denied wanting to do.
But the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the deal under president Donald Trump in 2018 and the reimposition of biting economic sanctions prompted Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments.
EU submits ‘final text’ at Iran nuclear talks, Tehran examining document
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EU submits ‘final text’ at Iran nuclear talks, Tehran examining document
- Talks aimed at reviving the agreement over Iran’s nuclear program resumed on Thursday in Vienna
Activist boat says rescues migrants en route to Gaza
- The Madleen has “a 12-member crew of peaceful activists” headed for Gaza “with the aim of breaking the blockade of Palestine by the state of Israel,” the March to Gaza Greece group said
ATHENS: A vessel organized by an international activist coalition to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza has rescued several migrants from the sea near Crete, a support group in Greece said on Friday.
The Madleen, launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, said it had received a distress signal from a boat in the Mediterranean, forcing it to change course off the coast of Crete.
The Madleen has “a 12-member crew of peaceful activists” headed for Gaza “with the aim of breaking the blockade of Palestine by the state of Israel,” the March to Gaza Greece group said.
“Upon arrival (at the scene), it discovered that the boat was sinking with approximately 30-35 people aboard.”
At that point, the Madleen was approached by a ship that initially identified itself as Egyptian.
“The activists aboard the Madleen quickly realized that this was a false identification and that the ship was, in fact, a Libyan coast guard vessel,” they said.
“Libya is not considered a safe country and for this reason some of the refugees jumped into the sea to avoid being returned there.
“The Madleen rescued four Sudanese individuals who had jumped into the water and brought them aboard.”
After several hours of calls for assistance, a Frontex vessel eventually picked up the rescued individuals, the group said, referring to the European Union’s border and coast guard agency.
The Madleen sailed from Sicily on Sunday.
Those on board include climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, launched in 2010, is a non-violent international movement supporting Palestinians.
It combines humanitarian aid with political protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the critical humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.
It blocked all aid into Gaza on March 2. The United Nations warned on May 30 that the entire population of more than two million was at risk of famine.
Fighters from Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
A total of 1,218 people died, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.
Since October 2023, Israel’s retaliatory war on Hamas-run Gaza has killed 54,677 people there, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The United Nations deems the health ministry figures to be reliable.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Iraq frees Australian, Egyptian engineers after four years, but keeps travel ban
- Both men were sentenced to five years in prison and fined $12 million, the working group said
BAGHDAD: Iraq has released an Australian mechanical engineer and his Egyptian colleague who were detained for more than four years over a dispute with the central bank, authorities said Friday, though the two remain barred from leaving the country.
Robert Pether and Khalid Radwan were working for an engineering company contracted to oversee the construction of the bank’s new Baghdad headquarters, according to a United Nations report, when they were arrested in April 2021.
A report from a working group for the UN Human Rights Council said the arrests stemmed from a contractual dispute over “alleged failure to execute certain payments.”
Both men were sentenced to five years in prison and fined $12 million, the working group said.
A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Pether, in his fifties, was released “due to his poor health.”
Australian media have previously reported that the family suspected Pether had developed lung cancer in prison and that he had undergone surgery for skin cancer.
A second Iraqi official confirmed the release of Radwan, adding that he was not allowed to leave the country until a “final decision” was made regarding his case.
Australia’s ABC broadcaster quoted the country’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, as welcoming the release and saying the Australian government had raised the issue with Iraqi authorities more than 200 times.
Simon Harris, foreign minister for Ireland, where Pether’s family lives, posted on X: “This evening, I have been informed of the release on bail of Robert Pether, whose imprisonment in Iraq has been a case of great concern.
“This is very welcome news in what has been a long and distressing saga for Robert’s wife, three children and his wider family and friends.”
Speaking to Irish national broadcaster RTE, Pether’s wife, Desree Pether, said her husband was “not well at all” and “really needs to just come home so he can get the proper medical care he needs.”
“He’s completely unrecognizable. It’s a shock to the system to see how far he has declined,” she said.
Syrian leader makes first visit to cradle of country’s uprising
- SANA published footage showing a cheering crowd greeting Sharaa
- Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab visited Daraa’s historic Omari mosque during the trip
DAMASCUS: Syrian Arab Republic’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Friday visited the southern city of Daraa, the cradle of the country’s uprising, for the first time since ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad almost six months ago.
State news agency SANA published footage showing a cheering crowd greeting Sharaa, who was seen waving and shaking hands with people during the visit, which came on the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha.
Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab visited Daraa’s historic Omari mosque during the trip, the presidency said in a statement, releasing images of the visit showing the leader among the crowd.
SANA also said he met with local civil and military officials, as well as a delegation from the Christian minority.
Provincial governor Anwar Al-Zoabi said in a statement that the visit was “an important milestone in the course of national recovery.”
In 2011, young boys who had scrawled graffiti against Assad were detained in Daraa, sparking nationwide protests.
After the war erupted following the brutal repression of protests, rebels seized control of Daraa and hung on until 2018, when the city returned to Assad under a deal mediated by Russia that allowed former fighters to keep their light weapons.
On December 6, as Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) led a lightning offensive on Damascus from the country’s northwest, a coalition of armed groups from Daraa province was formed to help oust Assad, who was toppled two days later.
The province was plagued by unrest in recent years.
Grandmother files war crimes case in Paris over Gaza killings
- The complaint argues the “genocide” allegation is based on the air strike being part of a larger Israeli project to “eliminate the Palestinian population and submit it to living conditions of a nature to entail the destruction of their group”
PARIS: The grandmother of two children with French nationality killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza has filed a legal complaint in Paris, accusing Israel of “genocide” and “murder,” her lawyer said on Friday.
Jacqueline Rivault filed her complaint with the “crimes against humanity” section of the Court of Paris, lawyer Arie Alimi said.
Rivault hopes the fact that her daughter’s children, aged six and nine, were French citizens means the country’s judiciary will decide it has jurisdiction to designate a magistrate to investigate the allegations.
Rights groups, lawyers, and some Israeli historians have described the Gaza war as “genocide.”
FASTFACT
Jacqueline Rivault filed her complaint with the ‘crimes against humanity’ section of the Court of Paris, lawyer Arie Alimi said.
The complaint states that “two F16 missiles fired by the Israeli army” killed Janna, six, and Abderrahim Abudaher, nine, in northern Gaza on October 24, 2023.
They and their family had sought refuge in another home “between Faluja and Beit Lahia” after leaving their own two days earlier due to heavy bombardment, the 48-page document stated.
One missile entered “through the roof and the second directly into the room where the family was,” it said.
Abderrahim was killed instantly, while his sister Janna died shortly after being taken to the hospital.
The complaint argues the “genocide” allegation is based on the air strike being part of a larger Israeli project to “eliminate the Palestinian population and submit it to living conditions of a nature to entail the destruction of their group.”
Though formally against unnamed parties, the complaint explicitly targets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government, and the military.
The children’s brother Omar was severely wounded but still lives in Gaza with their mother, identified as Yasmine Z., the complaint said.
A French court in 2019 convicted Yasmine Z. in absentia of having funded a “terrorist” group by distributing money in Gaza to members of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed 54,677 people, mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry there, figures the UB deems reliable.
No court has so far ruled that the ongoing conflict is a genocide.
But in rulings in January, March, and May 2024, the International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest judicial organ, told Israel to do everything possible to “prevent” acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
‘No Eid’ for West Bank residents who lost sons in Israeli raids
- An armored car arrived at the site shortly after, unloading soldiers to clear the cemetery of its mourners, who walked away solemnly without protest
JENIN: Abeer Ghazzawi had little time to visit her two sons’ graves for Eid Al-Adha before Israeli soldiers cleared the cemetery near the refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
The Israeli army has conducted a months-long operation in the camp, which has forced Ghazzawi, along with thousands of other residents, from her home.
For Ghazzawi, the few precious minutes she spent at her sons’ graves still felt like a small victory.
“On the last Eid — Eid Al-Fitr, celebrating the end of Ramadan in March — they raided us. They even shot at us. But this Eid, there was no shooting, just that they kicked us out of the cemetery twice,” said the 48-year-old.
“We were able to visit our land, clean up around the graves, and pour rosewater and cologne on them,” she added.
As part of the Eid celebrations, families traditionally visit the graves of their loved ones.
In the Jenin camp cemetery, women and men had brought flowers for their deceased relatives, and many sat on the side of their loved ones’ graves as they remembered the dead, clearing away weeds and dust.
An armored car arrived at the site shortly after, unloading soldiers to clear the cemetery of its mourners, who walked away solemnly without protest.
Ghazzawi’s two sons, Mohammed and Basel, were killed in January 2024 in a Jenin hospital by undercover Israeli troops.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group claimed the two brothers as its fighters after their deaths.
Like Ghazzawi, many in Jenin mourned sons killed during one of the numerous Israeli operations that have targeted the city, a known bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting Israel.
In the current months-long military operation in the north of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, Israeli forces looking for militants have cleared three refugee camps and deployed tanks in Jenin.
Mohammed Abu Hjab, 51, went to the cemetery on the other side of the city to visit the grave of his son, killed in January by an Israeli strike that also killed five other people.
“There is no Eid. I lost my son — how can it be Eid for me?” he asked as he stood by the six small gravestones of the dead young men.
