Deep sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program look set to go into force once again, even as a UN watchdog confirmed Friday inspections of its atomic sites had resumed. Russia failed in an effort with Beijing Friday to delay the reimposition of the measures on Tehran, with Moscow raising the prospect that it may not enforce the sanctions — despite being required to under international law.European powers triggered the process to reimpose economic sanctions after demanding Iran reverse a series of steps it took after Israel and the United States bombed its nuclear sites in June.The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, did confirm Friday that inspections of Iranian nuclear sites had resumed this week after a hiatus following Washington and Israel’s strikes. Resumption of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections was a key measure demanded by the Europeans — Britain, France and Germany.”I signed an agreement with the agency in Cairo and the director general of the agency is quite satisfied and happy,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.Araghchi has insisted any effort to reimpose sanctions is “legally void,” vowing never to “bow to pressure” on its nuclear program — but left the door open to more talks.Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday Tehran would not leave the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in retaliation to sanctions being reimposed.China and Russia’s effort to buy time for diplomacy was rejected by nine countries against four in favor.”UN sanctions, targeting Iranian proliferation, will be reimposed this weekend,” said Britain’s ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward.”We stand ready to continue discussions with Iran on a diplomatic solution to address international concerns about its nuclear program. In turn, this could allow for the lifting of sanctions in the future.”The UN sanctions, notably on Iran’s banking and oil sectors, are set to take effect automatically at the end of Saturday.China and Russia at the Security Council session on Friday pushed a resolution that would have extended talks until April 18, 2026.”We had hoped that us, that European colleagues in the US, would think twice, and that they would opt for the path of diplomacy and dialog, instead of their clumsy blackmail,” the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN told the council prior to the vote.”Did Washington, London, Paris, Berlin make any compromises? No, they did not.”- ‘Several workable solutions’? -France’s ambassador to the UN Jerome Bonnafort told the council all sides had been “trying to find, until the very last moment, a solution.”France — speaking for itself, Germany, and Britain — has told Iran it must allow full access to UN nuclear inspectors, immediately resume nuclear negotiations, and offer transparency on highly enriched uranium, the whereabouts of which has been the subject of speculation.The European nations “and the US have consistently misrepresented Iran’s peaceful nuclear program,” said Araghchi who insisted Tehran had put forward “several workable” proposals.The European countries’ “pursuit of the so called ‘snapback’ is… legally void, politically reckless and procedurally flawed,” he said.The 2015 deal, negotiated during Barack Obama’s presidency, lifted sanctions in return for Iran drastically scaling back its controversial nuclear work.President Donald Trump in his first term withdrew from the deal and imposed sweeping unilateral US sanctions, while pushing the Europeans to do likewise.Steve Witkoff, Trump’s roving envoy who had been negotiating with Iran until Israel attacked, said Wednesday that Iran was in a “tough position” but also held out hope for a solution.But Iran’s president was withering in his assessment of Washington’s diplomatic efforts, claiming that Witkoff and his team were not serious.”We came to understandings a number of times but they were never taken seriously by the Americans,” Pezeshkian told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.Iran has long contended that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, pointing to an edict by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and US intelligence has not concluded that the country has decided to build a nuclear weapon.dt-abd-gw-sct/sla/ksb

US President Donald Trump called on Microsoft on Friday to fire its head of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, a former senior official in Democratic administrations.”It is my opinion that Microsoft should immediately terminate the employment of Lisa Monaco,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.Since taking office in January, the Republican president has taken a number of punitive measures against his perceived enemies and political opponents.Former FBI director James Comey, a prominent Trump critic, was indicted on two criminal counts on Thursday and Trump said Friday he hopes “there are others.”Trump, in his call for Microsoft to fire Monaco, noted that she served as deputy attorney general in the Joe Biden administration, when criminal cases were brought against him.”Monaco has been shockingly hired as the President of Global Affairs for Microsoft, in a very senior role with access to Highly Sensitive Information,” he wrote. “Monaco’s having that kind of access is unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to stand.”She is a menace to US National Security, especially given the major contracts that Microsoft has with the United States Government,” he added. “The US Government recently stripped her of all Security Clearances, took away all of her access to National Security Intelligence, and banned her from all Federal Properties.”Trump was the target of several investigations after leaving the White House in 2021.The FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 as part of a probe into mishandling of classified documents and Trump was charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Neither case came to trial, and Smith — in line with a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president — dropped them both after Trump won the November 2024 vote.

The US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration on Friday to freeze for now more than $4 billion in foreign assistance appropriated by Congress.The conservative-dominated  court said upholding the president’s authority to conduct foreign affairs appears to “outweigh the potential harm” faced by the intended recipients of the aid money.The court said its emergency order was not a final determination on the merits of the case but it allows for a temporary freeze on disbursement of the funds while the case continues in lower courts.The three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Elena Kagan saying the stakes in the case are “high.””At issue is the allocation of power between the Executive and Congress over the expenditure of public monies,” Kagan said.But Friday’s emergency order was issued with “scant briefing, no oral argument, and no opportunity to deliberate in conference,” she added.The effect of the decision, Kagan said, “is to allow the Executive to cease obligating $4 billion in funds that Congress appropriated for foreign aid, and that will now never reach its intended recipients.”Because that result conflicts with the separation of powers, I respectfully dissent,” she said.President Donald Trump, since taking office in January, has sought to exert greater control over federal spending and tasked Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, with downsizing swaths of the US government.Among the chief targets was USAID, the primary organization for distributing US humanitarian aid around the world, with health and emergency programs in some 120 countries.