Foreign minister’s comments further inflame tensions in Persian Gulf after oil attacks
Iran’s foreign minister has warned that any attack on his country after a series of missile strikes on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry would result in “all-out war”.
Javad Zarif also demanded that Riyadh hand over the evidence that it claimed proved the attack came from Iran, and not from Houthi-occupied Yemen.
Continue reading...The supreme leader of Iran has said that the US must return to the 2015 nuclear deal or 'there will be no talks at any level between Iranian officials and Americans'.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also dispelled any possibility of a meeting between Donald Trump and the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, during the UN general assembly in New York this month
Continue reading...Cambridge-educated lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University has been in prison in Tehran for almost a year
The third foreign national revealed this week to be imprisoned in Iran has been named by the Australian government as Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a Melbourne academic who has published work on the 2011 Arab uprisings and on authoritarian governments.
Moore-Gilbert, a dual UK-Australian national, is Cambridge educated and worked as a lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University. She has been in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for almost a year.
Continue reading...Israel’s opposition says prime minister’s claims are an election campaign stunt
Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled what he claims was a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility and accused Tehran of destroying the site to hide the evidence.
“This is what I have to say to the tyrants of Tehran,” Netanyahu said. “Israel knows what you’re doing, Israel knows when you’re doing it, and Israel knows where you’re doing it.”
Continue reading...Adrian Darya, previously called Grace 1, photographed near Russian navy facility
Britain is seeking to establish whether Iran has sold oil to Syria in breach of written undertakings given by Tehran to authorities in Gibraltar.
Iran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that a tanker seized by British Marines on 9 July and released in August had reached its final destination “on the Mediterranean coast” and sold its oil – without identifying the country.
Continue reading...Move comes as president gives Europe two-month deadline to save nuclear deal
Iran has said it will free seven crew members of a British-flagged tanker seized in the strait of Hormuz in July, as the country’s president gave Europe a two-month deadline to save its nuclear deal.
The seven, who are part of a 23-member crew comprising Indian, Russian, Latvia and Filipino nationals, were allowed to leave the Stena Impero tanker on humanitarian grounds and will be able to leave Iran soon, Iranian state television reported. The vessel’s owner said it had yet to receive any official confirmation of the release date.
Continue reading...Tehran says gap is closing on views after phone conversation between Macron and Rouhani
Iran and France have moved closer in their views on the future of Tehran’s nuclear deal with the west after talks between the countries’ presidents, the Iranian government has said.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, spoke for two hours by telephone, a spokesman said, as Paris continued its diplomatic initiative to salvage the deal, which has been at risk of unravelling since the US withdrew last year.
Continue reading...Hassan Rouhani says US must first lift sanctions before summit can take place
Iran’s president has back-pedalled on possible talks with Donald Trump, saying the US president must first lift sanctions imposed on Tehran, otherwise a meeting between the two would be a mere photo op.
Hassan Rouhani’s change of heart came a day after Trump said there was a “really good chance” the two could meet after a surprise intervention by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, during the G7 summit to try to bring Washington and Tehran together.
Continue reading...The US president has accused Iran of being the world's 'number one nation of terror', saying it was 'too soon' for talks between the two countries. He said the US would be willing to 'make Iran rich again' if it halted its nuclear programme. Trump had opted not to meet Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, who made an unscheduled appearance at the G7 summit, in Biarritz, on Sunday
Continue reading...Visit comes during summit at which policy on Iran has been one of most contentious issues
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has made a surprise appearance in Biarritz meeting Emmanuel Macron, in the midst of a G7 summit where western policy towards Iran has been one of the most contentious issues.
On Sunday evening, Zarif posted a picture on Twitter of his meeting with the French president and the foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, reportedly in the office of the Biarritz mayor, across the road from a building where G7 leaders had been meeting. The Iranian foreign minister said he had also provided a briefing for British and German officials.
Continue reading...How far from European policy will the US national security adviser try to pull the UK?
John Bolton, the national security adviser to Donald Trump and one of the pre-eminent advocates of “America first”, could not have been more solicitous to the Boris Johnson government – but his overtures may come with a sting in the tail for the UK.
The messages of solidarity poured out. We are with you, he vowed, saying Brexit was in the US national security interest, with or without a deal with the EU by 31 October. Laced with a few barbs at the expense of Brussels, he presented his credentials as a pioneer Brexiter, arguing he was a leaver before there were leavers.
Continue reading...Foreign minister says Iran has been withdrawing in stages since US pulled out last year
Iran will take another step to reduce its compliance with a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Saturday, according to parliamentary news agency Icana.
Iran has repeatedly said it will reduce its commitment to the nuclear accord in stages and may even withdraw from the pact altogether unless the remaining signatories find ways to shield its economy from US sanctions. Washington pulled out of the deal last year.
Continue reading...Hassan Rouhani spoke after Iraqi president’s visit to Iran at request of UK defence ministry
Iran has indicated it wants to de-escalate the British-Iranian crisis, hinting at swapping two captured tankers.
“We do not seek the continuation of tension with some European countries,” Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said on Wednesday during a weekly cabinet meeting. “If Britain steps away from the wrong actions in Gibraltar, they will receive an appropriate response from Iran.”
Continue reading...Boris Johnson is taking the helm with an urgent crisis brewing in the Gulf, where Iran’s seizure of a British oil tanker threatens to pull the UK and the international community into the escalating friction between Washington and Tehran. But in crisis there is opportunity, and the new prime minister should use his affinity with Donald Trump to de-escalate responsibly while reinforcing the battered transatlantic relationship around Iran.
Tehran has accused the tanker, the Stena Impero, of colliding with a fishing boat and violating international regulations. However, the seizure came shortly after Iranian leaders threatened to retaliate for the British seizure of an Iranian-flagged vessel in Gibraltar over suspicions that the ship had violated European Union sanctions on Syria.
Continue reading...Defence secretary’s decision may seem puzzling but is in Britain’s best interests
In possibly his last act as foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt signalled Britain’s determination to continue to cooperate with Europe on defence and to side with its nearest neighbours, and not Washington, on how to curb Iranian nuclear ambitions.
He told MPs on Monday he wanted to form a European maritime security force to defend shipping in the Gulf rather than join a US-led force. The two might work in cooperation, but they were to be distinct.
Continue reading...Critics point to irony of UK calling on EU support while heading for Brexit
Plans for a European-led maritime security force in the Gulf unveiled by the UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, hit choppy waters as the plan was rejected by Iran, met resistance from supporters of the incoming prime minister, Boris Johnson, and was seen by British shipping industry experts as not providing a short-term solution to the crisis facing UK-flagged shipping in the Gulf.
On Monday, Hunt unveiled a plan for a European-led maritime security force, making clear he regarded a proposed rival plan for a US force as likely to be seen by the Iranians as an escalatory step, partly since Washington opposes the Iran nuclear deal.
Continue reading...Tehran says some of the Iranians allegedly spying for US have been sentenced to death
Seventeen Iranian nationals allegedly recruited by the CIA to spy on Iran’s nuclear and military sites have been arrested, Tehran said on Monday, adding that some of them had already been sentenced to death.
The arrests took place over the past months and those taken into custody worked on “sensitive sites” in the country’s military and nuclear facilities, an Iranian intelligence official told a press conference in Tehran.
Continue reading...With the seizure of a supertanker off Gibraltar, distracted UK government was set up by John Bolton as collateral damage
John Bolton, White House national security adviser and notorious Iraq-era hawk, is a man on a mission. Given broad latitude over policy by Donald Trump, he is widely held to be driving the US confrontation with Iran. And in his passionate bid to tame Tehran, Bolton cares little who gets hurt – even if collateral damage includes a close ally such as Britain.
So when Bolton heard British Royal Marines had seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar on America’s Independence Day, his joy was unconfined. “Excellent news: UK has detained the supertanker Grace I laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions,” he exulted on Twitter.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt says Britain’s response will be ‘considered but robust’ if UK-flagged tanker is not released
The British government has warned that Iran is choosing “a dangerous path of illegal and destabilising behaviour” and advised UK ships to avoid the strait of Hormuz after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker as the crisis in the Gulf escalates.
The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said on Saturday morning that Britain’s response would be “considered but robust” if the British-flagged Stena Impero was not released, although he had earlier said the government was not contemplating military action.
Continue reading...The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said on Saturday morning that Britain’s response would be ‘considered but robust’ if the British-flagged Stena Impero was not released, although he said the government was not contemplating military action. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had captured the British-flagged tanker, announcing the move two weeks after the British navy seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar, on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria in violation of an EU embargo