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Iran met with European powers on Friday to discuss its nuclear negotiations with Washington, while US President Donald Trump issued a new threat unless the Iranians “move quickly” towards a deal.The meeting in Istanbul followed remarks by Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warning of “irreversible” consequences if Britain, France and Germany move to reimpose United Nations sanctions that were lifted under a landmark 2015 agreement.Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who attended the talks in the Turkish city, said in a post on X: “We exchanged views and discussed the latest status of the indirect nuclear negotiations and the lifting of sanctions.”Gharibabadi added that, if necessary, Tehran would meet again with the so-called E3 — the European parties to the 2015 deal along with China, Russia and the United States — to continue discussions, after several meetings since last year.Trump had effectively torpedoed the deal during his first term, by unilaterally abandoning it in 2018 and reimposing sanctions on Iran’s banking sector and oil exports.A year later, Iran responded by rolling back its own commitments under the deal, which provided relief from sanctions in return for UN-monitored restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.Speaking Friday in Abu Dhabi, Trump said that his administration had handed Iran a proposal for a new agreement, after four rounds of negotiations in recent weeks.”They have a proposal, but more importantly, they know they have to move quickly or something bad is going to happen,” Trump said.Araghchi later wrote on X that “Iran has not received any written proposal from the United States, whether directly or indirectly”.He added that an agreement can be reached if Washington lifts sanctions and respects “our rights” — including to enrich uranium.”Mark my words: there is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to enrichment for peaceful purposes,” Araghchi said.The Iran-US talks mediated by Oman were the highest-level contact between the two foes since Washington abandoned the nuclear accord.- ‘Sustain diplomacy’ -The three European powers have been weighing whether to trigger the 2015 deal’s “snapback” mechanism, which would reinstate UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance — an option that expires in October.Such a stance “risks provoking a global nuclear proliferation crisis that would primarily affect Europeans themselves”, Iran’s top diplomat has warned.However, writing in the French weekly Le Point, he also noted that Tehran was “ready to turn the page” in its relations with Europe.Gharibabadi said after Friday’s meeting that “Iran and the three European countries are determined to sustain and make optimal use of diplomacy”.In a post on X, the UK Foreign Office’s political director, Christian Turner, said the parties reaffirmed their “commitment to dialogue, welcomed ongoing US/Iran talks, and given urgency, agreed to meet again.”A US official said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Friday with the French, British and German national security advisers in Istanbul for talks on Iran and Ukraine.Araghchi has said that the talks with the Europeans and the United States were proceeding on separate track.China, which held recent talks with Iran on its nuclear programme, said ahead of Friday’s talks that it remained “committed to promoting a political and diplomatic settlement of the Iran issue”.- ‘Getting close’ -Speaking on a visit to Qatar Thursday, Trump said the United States was “getting close” to a deal with Iran that would avert military action.”We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran,” he said.Since returning to office, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” policy on Tehran, backing nuclear diplomacy but warning of military action if it fails.Trump has said he presented Iran’s leadership with an “olive branch”, adding that it was an offer that would not last forever.He further threatened to impose “massive maximum pressure”, including driving Iranian oil exports to zero if talks failed.Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67-percent limit set in the 2015 deal but below the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead.Tehran insists its right to continue enriching uranium for peaceful purposes is “non-negotiable” but says it would be open to temporary restrictions on how much uranium it enriches and to what level.On Wednesday, Iran’s atomic energy agency chief Mohammad Eslami reiterated that Tehran “does not seek nuclear militarisation”, adding that enrichment was under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog. “The dismantling of enrichment is not accepted by Iran,” he stressed.

The UN’s rights chief on Friday denounced Israel’s sharp escalation of attacks in Gaza — and an apparent push to permanently displace the population — as amounting to “ethnic cleansing”.”This latest barrage of bombs… and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” Volker Turk said in a statement.A two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March, shortly after Israel reimposed a total blockade on Gaza that aid agencies say has sparked critical food shortages, with famine looming.Israeli media reported Friday that the military had stepped up its offensive in Gaza following government approval of a plan to retake the territory earlier this month, though the army has yet to formally announce its threatened expansion of the campaign.  Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that a clear intensification in attacks this week raised fears the wider Israeli offensive had begun.”We must stop the clock on this madness,” he said, urging all parties, including third states with direct influence, to stop the assault.- ‘Tragic… abhorrent’ -Medical services were already in a state of collapse, even as access to shelter continues to shrink amid displacement orders and destruction, he said.”Families are forced to live in tents under conditions far below standards keeping their human dignity, and extreme hunger is deepening due to the Israeli blockade,” the statement said.Israel cut off aid to Gaza on March 2, a tactic it has said is intended to force concessions from militant group Hamas, which is still holding dozens of Israeli hostages seized in its deadly attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023. The health ministry in Gaza said 2,876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,010.Turk highlighted in particular Israeli strikes that hit two of the largest hospitals in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the Nasser Medical Complex and the European Hospital, leaving the latter out of service.”Hospitals are protected at all times – and are even more indispensable during war,” Turk said.”The killing of patients or of people visiting their wounded or sick loved ones, or of emergency workers or other civilians just seeking shelter, is as tragic as it is abhorrent,” he said.”These attacks must cease,” he said.The rights chief insisted that “even if, as Israel says, it was targeting Hamas command centres underground, and even if destroying these structures offered a definite military advantage at the time of the attack, it is bound by international law to ensure that constant care is taken to spare the lives of civilians”.”That’s clearly not the case.”

Rescuers said Israeli strikes on Gaza killed nearly 90 people on Friday, while Hamas demanded the United States press Israel to lift a sweeping aid blockade in return for a US-Israeli hostage released by the group.In early March, shortly before the collapse of a two-month ceasefire in its war against Hamas, Israel reimposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip, where aid agencies have warned of critical shortages of everything from food and clean water to fuel and medicines.US President Donald Trump acknowledged on Friday that “a lot of people are starving” in the besieged Palestinian territory.”We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of,” Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi, on a regional tour that excluded key ally Israel.Israel says its decision to cut off aid to Gaza was intended to force concessions from militant group Hamas, which still holds dozens of Israeli hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war. Hamas on Monday freed Edan Alexander, the last living hostage with US nationality, after direct engagement with the Trump administration that left Israel sidelined.As part of the understanding with Washington regarding Alexander’s release, senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu on Friday said the group was “awaiting and expecting the US administration to exert further pressure” on Israel “to open the crossings and allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid”.Nunu’s remarks come a day after Hamas had warned Trump that Gaza was not “for sale”, responding to the US president again suggesting he could take over the Palestinian territory and turn it into “a freedom zone”.On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes on Friday killed at least 88 people.Umm Mohammed al-Tatari, 57, told AFP that she was awoken by a pre-dawn attack on northern Gaza.”We were asleep when suddenly everything exploded around us,” she said.”Everyone started running. We saw the destruction with our own eyes. There was blood everywhere, body parts and corpses.””There is no safety. We could die at any moment,” said 33-year-old Ahmed Nasr, also from northern Gaza.At the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, AFPTV footage showed mourners crying over the bodies of their loved ones.”They were innocent people,” said Mayar Salem. “Only their remains are left… They were my sisters and daughters.”- ‘Historic opportunity’ – Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 2,985 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,119 deaths in the Palestinian territory.Israeli media reported Friday that the military had stepped up its offensive in line with a plan approved by the government earlier this month, though there has not been any formal announcement of an expanded campaign.The military said in a statement on Friday that its forces had “struck over 150 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” in 24 hours.The main Israeli campaign group representing the families of hostages said that by extending the fighting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was missing an “historic opportunity” to get their loved ones out through diplomacy.Another group representing hostage relatives, the Tivka Forum, called for more military pressure “coordinated with diplomatic pressure, a complete siege, cutting off water and electricity”.For weeks, UN agencies have warned of severe shortages in Gaza.The 46-member Council of Europe on Friday said the territory was suffering from a “deliberate starvation”.Senior Hamas official Basem Naim has said the entry of aid into Gaza was “the minimum requirement for a conducive and constructive negotiation environment”.The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, has said it will begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli officials.But the United Nations on Thursday ruled out involvement with the initiative, citing concerns about “impartiality, neutrality (and) independence”.

Gulf Arab leaders were “starving for love” — so US President Donald Trump showered them with near endless praise during a tour filled with bromance and billion-dollar deals this week.Wary of raising contentious topics such as human rights, Trump rained down compliments on the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as he shuttled between palaces, business forums and lavish state dinners.Speaking at an investment conference in Riyadh, he told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: “I like you too much!”.He said the prince — the kingdom’s de facto leader — and Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani were both “tall, handsome guys that happen to be very smart”.In Abu Dhabi, he called UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed a “magnificent man” and a “truly great warrior”.But perhaps the most surprising compliment of his Gulf tour was the one he paid to Syria’s jihadist-turned-president after vowing to lift sanctions on the war-battered country in a surprise announcement in Riyadh.Trump said Ahmed al-Sharaa was “a young, attractive guy” following the first meeting between leaders of the two countries in 25 years.”Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” the US president laughed to a roaring applause as he announced the seismic diplomatic shift that Riyadh had lobbied for.His approach was in stark contrast with his predecessor Joe Biden’s infamous fist-bump with the prince, when they met after he had vowed to make the kingdom a “pariah” during his campaign.- ‘Perfect marble’ -The wealthy Gulf monarchies’ penchant for luxury likely found a receptive audience with Trump.In Qatar, the president — who recently decked out the Oval Office with gilded souvenirs and gold-plated, Trump-branded coasters — complimented the “perfect marble” of the emir’s headquarters, the Amiri Diwan.Air Force One was escorted by fighter jets from each Gulf country during the tour — a gesture likely to have touched the president. Trump has plans to hold a rare military parade in Washington next month to mark the 250th anniversary of the US army alongside his 79th birthday.He lamented that his own presidential plane was much less impressive than Gulf leaders’ “brand new” jets in an interview with Fox News.His comments were the latest jab aimed at critics who accused him of blatant corruption, after Qatar offered to donate a luxury aircraft ahead of his visit for presidential and then personal use.Trump had charged it would be “stupid” to turn down such a gift, despite facing criticism from his own party.Republican Senator Rand Paul said in a Fox News interview: “I wonder if our ability to judge their human rights record would be clouded by the fact of this large gift”.- ‘Favourite dictator’ -The US president has long had a fascination for strongmen — calling Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi his “favourite dictator” during his first term.  Trump also largely stayed silent on human rights issues during his four-day tour, which focused mainly on sealing billion-dollar deals.Instead he doubled down insisting: “Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong,” and calling bin Salman’s modernisation drive “truly extraordinary”.Addressing an investment forum in Riyadh, he slammed “Western interventionists… giving you lectures on how to live or how to govern your own affairs”.”The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called ‘nation-builders’, ‘neo-cons’ or ‘liberal non-profits’,” he said, taking a shot at previous administrations that oversaw invasions and military interventions abroad. “I believe it is God’s job to sit in judgement — my job [is] to defend America and to promote the fundamental interests of stability, prosperity and peace.”

The Council of Europe on Friday said Gaza was suffering from a “deliberate starvation”, and warned that Israel was sowing “the seeds for the next Hamas” in the territory.”The time for a moral reckoning over the treatment of Palestinians has come — and it is long overdue,” said Dora Bakoyannis, rapporteur for the Middle East at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.The 46-member Council of Europe works to safeguard human rights and democracy.”No cause, no matter how just or pure, can ever justify every means,” Bakoyannis said in a statement.”The mass killing of children and unarmed civilians, the deliberate starvation, and the relentless pain and humiliation inflicted upon Palestinians in Gaza must end.”Since March 2, Israeli forces have blocked all humanitarian aid entering Gaza for its 2.4 million inhabitants, now threatened with famine, according to several NGOs.US President Donald Trump said earlier Friday that “a lot of people are starving” in the besieged territory.Bakoyannis said that “it takes a smart and brave nation to recognise when its actions are causing more harm than good. What is unfolding in Gaza helps no-one”.Breaking a two-month ceasefire, Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, with the declared goal of obtaining the release of all hostages still held in Gaza.Israeli retaliation for Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, has resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to AFP data based on official figures.Of the 251 people kidnapped, 57 remain held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.Israeli retaliations have caused at least 53,010 deaths in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the latest data from the Hamas Ministry of Health, considered reliable by the UN.

Fri, 16 May 2025 12:11:02 GMT