Kazakhstan vows to fast-track AZAL crash investigation amid rising diplomatic tensions
Kazakhstan has vowed to speed up its investigation into the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) crash near Aktau, as mounti...
Iran and the E3, Britain, France, and Germany, may hold nuclear talks next week, Tasnim reported, amid European warnings that failure to resume negotiations could trigger renewed international sanctions.
“The principle of holding talks has been agreed upon, but discussions are ongoing regarding the timing and location. The host country for next week’s meeting has not yet been finalised,” Tasnim quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying.
News of the possible talks follows the first official call between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the foreign ministers of the so-called E3 — Britain, France, and Germany — as well as the European Union’s foreign policy chief, since last month’s Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
The E3, together with China and Russia, remain signatories to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, which saw sanctions lifted in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear activities. The United States withdrew from the deal in 2018.
The E3 nations have warned that unless nuclear negotiations resume and yield concrete results, they will trigger the “snapback mechanism” to reimpose United Nations. sanctions on Iran by the end of August.
“If the EU and E3 want to play a constructive role, they must act responsibly and abandon outdated strategies of threats and pressure, including the so-called ‘snapback’, which they have no moral or legal basis to pursue,” Araqchi said earlier this week.
The snapback clause allows for the reactivation of U.N. sanctions prior to the expiration of the Security Council resolution enshrining the nuclear deal, set for 18 October.
Before the recent Israel-Iran conflict, Tehran and Washington held five rounds of indirect nuclear talks mediated by Oman. However, key disagreements remained — particularly over Iran’s uranium enrichment levels, which Western powers seek to reduce to eliminate any risk of weaponisation.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is purely for civilian and peaceful purposes.
The Kremlin is utilising the recent United States and Israeli military strikes on Iran to validate its ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian officials are pointing to the escalation in the Middle East as evidence that Western nations do not adhere to international rules.
Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant Saudi Aramco closed its Ras Tanura refinery on Monday following an Iranian drone strike, an industry source told Reuters as Tehran retaliated across the Gulf after a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iranian targets over the weekend.
The Middle East crisis intensifies after the deadly attack on the compound of the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei on Saturday that killed him, other family members and senior figures. Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. targets in the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. military has enough stockpiled weapons to fight wars "forever"; in a social media post late on Monday. The remarks came hours before conflict in Iran and the Middle East entered its fourth day.
Türkiye raised its security level for Turkish-flagged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz to Level 3 on Sunday (2 March). The development follows Iranian restrictions on shipping after U.S. and Israeli strikes and confirmation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death.
Strikes across the Middle East are intensifying, fuelling travel disruption, driving up global energy prices and forcing diplomatic missions to shut their doors as tensions continue to rise.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and is capable of sustaining military action indefinitely, as the conflict with Iran entered its fourth day.
The United Nations has called for an investigation into a deadly attack on a girls’ primary school in Iran, which Iranian officials say has killed more than 100 children. The U.S. has said its forces “would not” deliberately target a school.
U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 3rd of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment