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US expects Iran talks but Trump presses sanctions

The United States said Thursday it expected new nuclear talks to take place soon with Iran but President Donald Trump vowed to enforce sanctions and called for global boycott of “any amount” of Iranian oil or petrochemicals.Iran said that a fourth round of talks with the Trump administration, which had been set to take place this weekend in Rome, had been delayed.Oman, which has mediated between the long-time adversaries, said that “logistical reasons” were to blame for the delay.But in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said that the meeting’s date and venue had never been decided.”We expect another round of talks that will take place in the near future,” she told reporters.Trump, who ripped up an earlier nuclear deal in 2018, has voiced hope at securing a fresh agreement to resolve concerns and stave off the possibility of an Israeli military strike on Iran.Yet, he has openly spoken of his ambivalence. On returning to office, he vowed a return to “maximum pressure” but said he was doing so reluctantly, at the behest of hawkish advisors.Iran wants relief from sweeping sanctions imposed by Trump in the first term, including a US attempt to bar all countries from buying Iranian oil.Trump on Thursday vowed enforcement, a day after the United States imposed sanctions on seven companies accused of transporting Iranian-origin petroleum products.”All purchases of Iranian Oil, or Petrochemical products, must stop, NOW!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”Any Country or person who buys ANY AMOUNT of OIL or PETROCHEMICALS from Iran will be subject to, immediately, Secondary Sanctions,” he wrote.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday warned Iran on social media over support to Yemen’s Huthi insurgents, who are being pounded by US airstrikes over their missile firings in the Red Sea in purported solidarity with the Palestinians.”You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing,” Hegseth wrote.- ‘Lack of goodwill’ -Iran’s foreign ministry condemned what it called “the contradictory approach of American decision-makers and their lack of goodwill and seriousness in advancing the path of diplomacy.”The sanctions mark the latest US attempt “to disrupt friendly and legal relations between developing countries through economic terrorism,” it said.Steve Witkoff, Trump’s business friend turned globe-trotting envoy, has led the talks and voiced optimism about the atmosphere with the Iranians.Witkoff had earlier hinted at more flexibility in the talks but Secretary of State Marco Rubio — now also Trump’s national security advisor — has insisted that the goal is the complete dismantlement of Iran’s program.Many Iran watchers believe Tehran will never give up its program as a whole and the previous 2015 agreement, negotiated under former president Barack Obama, allowed a pathway to a limited civilian nuclear program.The 2015 deal included Russia, China and three European powers — Britain, France and Germany — which unsuccessfully sought to dissuade Trump from ripping it up.The European powers had been set to meet as well with Iran on a technical level on Friday ahead of the US-Iran talks.”Since that meeting is not taking place, the technical meeting is no longer relevant, at least at that time,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told AFP on a visit to Washington.Western governments have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapons capability — a goal Tehran has consistently denied, insisting its program is for peaceful purposes only.burs-sct/sla

‘We are the people of this land,’ Palestinians mark ‘Nakba’

About 300 Arab Israelis gathered Thursday in the ruins of a village that Palestinians fled during the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel, to commemorate what Palestinians call the “Nakba”, or catastrophe.As Israel celebrated Independence Day on Thursday, the demonstrators —- men, women, and children -— marched through the ruins chanting, “Your independence is our Nakba”.The place where the demonstrators gathered was previously the village of Al-Lajjun.The site, once home to thousands of Palestinians, has now been partly taken over by kibbutz Megiddo, an Israeli farming community.This year’s remembrance unfolded against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, where more than 18 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants have displaced nearly all of the territory’s 2.4 million people at least once, according to the United Nations.Clad in traditional keffiyeh headscarves and garments, marchers sang the Palestinian anthem and shared memories of loss and resilience.Among them was Ziyad Mahajneh, 82, who had fled the village as a child in 1948.They “attacked our village with cannons and machine guns,” Mahajneh recalled.He said when his family fled he was left behind, and it was a neighbour who helped him reunite with them in the nearby town of Umm al-Fahm, now also part of Israel.”Today, we are forbidden to be here. They ask us, ‘What are you doing here’?” he told AFP, referring to Israelis.”Al-Lajjun land has now become kibbutzim.”Memories of displacement echoed through the gathering.During the 1948 war, around 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes.The descendants of some 160,000 Palestinians who managed to remain in what became Israel presently make about 20 percent of its population.Many of today’s Arab Israelis remain deeply connected to their historic land.For more than two decades, Arab Israelis have marked Israeli Independence Day with an annual “March of Return” to a depopulated Palestinian village.This year, however, organisers said heightened restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities —- including limits on attendance and a ban on Palestinian flags —- led them to cancel the central march and hold smaller demonstrations instead.”They want us to stop from doing even the simplest act: remembering the Nakba,” said Faisal Mahajneh, another displaced resident of Al-Lajjun.”We are the people of this land, and we will not lose hope” of returning, said Ziyad.

Tunisia protesters demand freedom for jailed opposition

Hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets of the capital Thursday to mark Labour Day, to protest against President Kais Saied and to demand the release of jailed political figures.The rally, attended by members of different political factions, was called by Tunisia’s powerful UGTT trade union confederation and relatives of detained opposition figures.”We’re not happy with what’s happening,” activist Souhaieb Ferchichi said. “People keep advocating for their rights despite an atmosphere of fear and repression.””This regime is failing,” he added. “It sells us slogans while not respecting the constitution and the law.”Demonstrators on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Tunis’s main thoroughfare and a popular protest spot, carried a banner reading: “Injustice is the beginning of the end.””The revolution will come,” they chanted, with some carrying signs calling the president a “tyrant”.”The country is in a state of shutdown, a state of silencing voices and jailing young people over a social media post,” UGTT chief Noureddine Taboubi said in a statement that denounced a “clampdown on freedoms”.Since Saied’s power grab in July 2021, in which he dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree, rights groups have warned of a sharp decline in civil liberties in Tunisia.Thursday’s protest comes days after lawyer Ahmed Souab was detained on terrorism-related charges after claiming that judges were under political pressure to hand opposition figures hefty sentences in a recent mass trial.Last month’s trial saw around 40 public figures, some of them staunch critics of Saied, sentenced to long jail terms on charges including plotting against the state.Souab had been a member of the defence team.”As his family, we consider his arrest to be politically motivated,” said the lawyer’s 67-year-old brother Mongi Souab.”Ahmed was not detained just for his words, but for his political positions regarding the state’s policies,” he told AFP.The trial drew international criticism, with objections from France, Germany and the United Nations.This week Saied dismissed “comments and statements by foreign parties” as “blatant interference in Tunisia’s internal affairs”.Thursday’s demonstration in Tunis was also marked by a counter protest.”The president said what he said: no to foreign interference,” said Ridha Soula, a retired 70-year-old among a smaller group of Saied supporters near the main rally.”We have elections here, and the people gave their voice,” he said. “If you won we’re with you. If you lost, you stay quiet.”

UK counter terrorism police probe Irish rappers Kneecap

British counter terrorism police Thursday launched an investigation into online videos of Irish rap group Kneecap after the band denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah or inciting violence against UK politicians.The announcement came as nearly 40 other groups and artists, among them Pulp, Paul Weller and Primal Scream, rallied around the band in an escalating row about political messaging at its concerts.Other artists who have offered their support include The Pogues, Massive Attack, Dexys and Thin Lizzy.”As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom,” the group said in a joint statement.They added there had been a “clear, concerted attempt to censor and ultimately deplatform” the trio for their criticism of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, as well as of British colonialism in Ireland and beyond.Since the row erupted Kneecap has had several concerts cancelled, including one in southwest England and three in Germany.Festivals in the Czech Republic and The Netherlands were also monitoring the situation, according to the PA news agency.London’s Metropolitan Police said two videos had been “referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for assessment by specialist officers, who have determined there are grounds for further investigation into potential offences linked to both videos”.The investigation was “now being carried out by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command and inquiries remain ongoing at this time”, it added.Kneecap on Monday apologised to the families of murdered British politicians and denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah.- Call for ban -The row began after police on Sunday said they were examining video footage.One video appeared to show a band member shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”.Those groups, in Gaza and in Lebanon, are banned as terror organisations in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin had urged the band to clarify whether they supported the groups or not.Video also emerged of the Belfast rap trio at a 2023 gig appearing to show one member saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”The family of Conservative MP David Amess, who was fatally stabbed by an Islamic State group follower in 2021, called for an apology from Kneecap while the party leader Kemi Badenoch called for the band to be banned.Other politicians have urged organisers of the Glastonbury festival to drop them from this year’s line-up.In its denial issued late on Monday, Kneecap said video footage had been “deliberately taken out of context.”Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah,” it said, adding the band would never “seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever”.”To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt,” it said, also referring to Labour MP Jo Cox who was murdered in 2016 by a neo-Nazi sympathiser a week before the divisive Brexit referendum.Amess’s daughter Katie, however, welcomed the investigation by counter terrorism police.”Kneecap’s rhetoric is not only abhorrent but poses a direct threat to the safety and well-being of elected officials,” she said. The war in Gaza was caused by an attack in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Israel’s military response in Gaza has caused a humanitarian crisis and killed at least 52,243 people, mainly civilians, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian territory’s health ministry.Â