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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday ruled out Tehran ever giving up uranium enrichment in its negotiations with Washington, insisting it will not be intimidated by the threat of war with the United States.The minister, Abbas Araghchi told a forum in Tehran attended by AFP, that Tehran had little trust in Washington and even doubted that the US side was taking renewed negotiations seriously.   “Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up, even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behaviour,” Araghchi “Their military deployment in the region does not scare us,” he said, referring to the arrival of an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in the Arabian Sea.The United States and Iran reopened negotiations on Friday, for the first time in years, in Oman.Iran is seeking to have US economic sanctions on the country lifted, in exchange for what Araghchi said at the forum could be “a series of confidence-building measures concerning the nuclear programme.”Western countries and Israel, thought to be the Middle East’s only country with nuclear weapons, say Iran is seeking to acquire a nuclear bomb, which the Islamic republic denies.”They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not looking for one. Our atomic bomb is the power to say ‘no’ to the great powers,” Araghchi said.- ‘Peace through strength’ -Araghchi’s comments came after US lead negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited the aircraft carrier on Saturday, signalling the persistent threat of US military action against Iran.The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said the two top officials visited the nuclear-powered vessel.In a social media post, Witkoff said the aircraft carrier and its strike group was “keeping us safe and upholding President Trump’s message of peace through strength”.The threat of war continues to hover over the negotiations, even as Trump called the talks “very good” and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on social media that they “constitute a step forward”. Following Friday’s first round in Oman, Trump signed an executive order calling for the “imposition of tariffs” on countries still doing business with Iran despite US sanctions.The United States also announced new sanctions against numerous shipping entities and vessels, aimed at curbing Iran’s oil exports.At the Tehran forum Sunday, Araghchi called into question the United States’ commitment to negotiations.”The continuation of certain sanctions and military actions raise doubts about the seriousness and readiness of the other side to conduct genuine negotiations,” he said. “We are monitoring the situation closely, assessing all the signals andwill decide on the continuation of the negotiations.”- Protests toll -Talks between the two arch enemies came amid a major US military buildup in the region in the wake of Iran’s crackdown on protests that began in late December, driven by economic grievances.The authorities in Iran have acknowledged that 3,117 people were killed in the recent protests, publishing on Sunday a list of 2,986 names, most of whom they say were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders.International organisations have put the toll far higher.The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which has kept a running toll since the onset of the protests, says it has verified 6,961 deaths, mainly of protesters, and has another 11,630 cases under investigation. It has also counted more than 51,000 arrests.

For nearly a year, repeated misdiagnoses of the deadly kala-azar disease left 60-year-old Harada Hussein Abdirahman’s health deteriorating, as an outbreak in Kenya’s arid regions claimed a record number of lives.Kala-azar is spread by sandflies and is one of the most dangerous neglected tropical diseases, with a fatality rate of 95 percent if untreated, causing fever, weight loss, and enlargement of the spleen and liver.  Cases of kala-azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, have spiked in Kenya, from 1,575 in 2024 to 3,577 in 2025, according to the health ministry.It is spreading to previously untouched regions and becoming endemic, driven by changing climatic conditions and expanding human settlements, say health officials, with millions potentially at risk of infection.Abdirahman, a 60-year-old grandmother, was bitten while herding livestock in Mandera county in Kenya’s northeast, a hotspot for the parasite but with only three treatment facilities capable of treating the disease.She was forced to rely on a local pharmacist who repeatedly misdiagnosed her with malaria and dengue fever for about a year. “I thought I was dying,” she told AFP. “It is worse than all the diseases they thought I had.”She was left with hearing problems after the harsh treatment to remove the toxins from her body.East Africa generally accounts for more than two-thirds of global cases, according to the World Health Organization.”Climate change is expanding the range of sandflies and increasing the risk of outbreaks in new areas,” said Dr Cherinet Adera, a researcher at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative in Nairobi. – ‘So scared’ -A surge in cases among migrant workers at a quarry site in Mandera last year led authorities to restrict movement at dusk and dawn when sandflies are most active.At least two workers died, their colleagues said. Others returned to their villages and their fates are unknown. “We did not know about the strange disease causing our colleagues to die,” said Evans Omondi, 34, who travelled hundreds of miles from western Kenya to work at the quarry. “We were so scared,” added Peter Otieno, another worker from western Kenya, recalling how they watched their infected colleagues waste away day by day.In 2023, the six most-affected African nations adopted a framework in Nairobi to eliminate the disease by 2030.But there are “very few facilities in the country able to actively diagnose and treat,” kala-azar, Dr Paul Kibati, tropical disease expert for health NGO Amref, told AFP.He said more training is needed as mistakes in testing and treatment can be fatal.The treatment can last up to 30 days and involves daily injections and often blood transfusions, costing as much as 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($775), excluding the cost of drugs, said Kibati, adding there is a need for “facilities to be adequately equipped”.The sandfly commonly shelters in cracks in poorly plastered mud houses, anthills and soil fissures, multiplying during the rainy season after prolonged drought.Northeastern Kenya, as well as neighbouring regions in Ethiopia and Somalia, have experienced a devastating drought in recent months. “Kala-azar affects mostly the poorest in our community,” Kibati said, exacerbated by malnutrition and weak immunity.”We are expecting more cases when the rains start,” Kibati said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday he hoped talks with the United States would resume soon, while reiterating Tehran’s red lines and warning against any American attack.According to excerpts published on his official Telegram channel during an interview with the Al Jazeera network, Araghchi said that Iran’s missile programme was “never negotiable” in Friday’s talks in Oman.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to raise the ballistic missiles programme in a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington next week.Araghchi meanwhile warned that Tehran would target US bases in the region if the US attacked Iranian territory.It came as lead Iran negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, signalling the persistent threat of US military action.The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said the two top officials visited the nuclear-powered vessel in a post on social media.In his own social media post, Witkoff said the aircraft carrier and its strike group was “keeping us safe and upholding President Trump’s message of peace through strength”.- ‘Good start’ -Araghchi on Saturday said that despite the talks in Muscat being indirect, “an opportunity arose to shake hands with the American delegation”.He called the talks “a good start”, but insisted “there is a long way to go to build trust”. He said the talks would resume “soon”.Trump on Friday called the talks “very good”, and pledged another round of negotiations next week.Despite this, he signed an executive order effective from Saturday that called for the “imposition of tariffs” on countries still doing business with Iran.The United States also announced new sanctions against numerous shipping entities and vessels, aimed at curbing Iran’s oil exports.More than a quarter of Iran’s trade is with China, with $18 billion in imports and $14.5 billion in exports in 2024, according to World Trade Organization data.- ‘Defence issue’ -Araghchi told Al Jazeera that nuclear enrichment was Iran’s “inalienable right and must continue”.”We are ready to reach a reassuring agreement on enrichment,” he said.”The Iranian nuclear case will only be resolved through negotiations.”He also said Iran’s missile programme was “never negotiable” because it relates to a “defence issue”.Washington has sought to address Iran’s ballistic missile programme and its support for militant groups in the region — issues which Israel has pushed to include in the talks, according to media reports.Tehran has repeatedly rejected expanding the scope of the negotiations beyond the nuclear issue.Netanyahu is set to meet Trump on Wednesday to discuss the Iran talks, the premier’s office said in a statement Saturday.Netanyahu “believes any negotiations must include limitations on ballistic missiles and a halting of the support for the Iranian axis”, it said, referring to Iran’s allies in the region.On Saturday, Araghchi criticised what he labelled a “doctrine of domination” that allows Israel to expand its military arsenal while pressuring other states in the region to disarm.Friday’s negotiations were the first since nuclear talks between Iran and the United States collapsed last year following Israel’s unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, which triggered a 12-day war.During the war US warplanes bombed Iranian nuclear sites.Araghchi told Al Jazeera that if attacked again, “we will attack their bases in the region”, referring to the United States.- Protests toll -Friday’s talks between the two arch enemies came amid a major US military buildup in the region in the wake of Iran’s crackdown on protests that began in late December, driven by economic grievances.The authorities in Iran have acknowledged that 3,117 people were killed in the recent protests, publishing on Sunday a list of 2,986 names, most of whom they say were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders.International organisations have put the toll far higher.The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which has kept a running toll since the onset of the protests, says it has verified 6,961 deaths, mainly of protesters, and has another 11,630 cases under investigation. It has also counted more than 51,000 arrests.