Category Archives: Iran

Iran says it will comply with nuclear deal if Biden lifts all sanctions

Posted on by

Foreign minister calls on US to ‘show its good faith’ but appears to rule out renegotiating deal

Iran will come back into full compliance with its nuclear deal immediately after the incoming Joe Biden administration in the US proves its bona fides by lifting all sanctions, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Setting out the parameters for a new relationship with Washington, Javad Zarif also said Iran would not require the US to rejoin the deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPoA), before lifting its sanctions, but would need some kind of assurance that once it has rejoined, the Biden administration would not simply leave the deal again in the same way Donald Trump did.

Continue reading...

Iran passes law threatening to halt nuclear inspections and boost enrichment

Posted on by

Law gives European signatories to nuclear deal two months to ease sanctions imposed after US quit nuclear deal

Iran’s Guardian Council watchdog body has approved a law on Wednesday that obliges the government to halt UN inspections of its nuclear sites and step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal if sanctions are not eased in two months.

In retaliation for the killing last week of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on Israel, Iran’s hardline-dominated parliament had on Tuesday approved the bill with a strong majority.

Continue reading...

Part 3: How do you say goodbye forever?

Posted on by

In part three of the Temporary podcast we meet Elaheh, who had to suddenly flee Iran, not realising she might never see her family again. Now a recognised refugee in Australia with a young son, her visa’s restrictions dictate whether her son will ever meet the strong women who raised her

Temporary is a project from the University of New South Wales Centre for Ideas and Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law in partnership with Guardian Australia, inspired by the book Refugee Rights and Policy Wrongs by Jane McAdam and Fiona Chong. Series artwork by Matt Huynh.

You can find additional information, photography and artwork at the Kaldor Centre’s Temporary website.

Continue reading...

Iran reprieves scientist facing execution for espionage

Posted on by

Move follows pressure on Tehran to re-examine case of Swedish-Iranian researcher Ahmadreza Djalali

A Swedish-Iranian scientist facing execution in Iran for espionage on Wednesday has been granted a reprieve, his lawyer has said.

Ahmadreza Djalali was not been transferred out of Evin prison in Tehran to Raja’i Shahr jail as expected on Tuesday night, his lawyer said, which would have been a prelude to his killing.

Continue reading...

Swedish-Iranian scientist faces ‘imminent risk of execution’ in Iran

Posted on by

Ahmadreza Djalali had been sentenced to death on espionage charges

A Swedish-Iranian scientist sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges may face execution as early as Wednesday, human rights groups and his wife have warned.

Ahmadreza Djalali was due to be taken from Evin prison to Rajai Shahr prison on Tuesday, a normal preliminary to an execution. Death sentences in Iran are often carried out on Wednesdays.

Continue reading...

Kylie Moore-Gilbert thanks supporters after Iran prison release: ‘My freedom is your victory’

Posted on by

British-Australian academic was held on espionage charges for more than 800 days

Freed academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has paid tribute to her family, friends and colleagues who campaigned for her release while she was held in Iranian prisons for more than two years.

After 804 days in prison on espionage charges widely dismissed as baseless, Moore-Gilbert was released last week in a complex and dramatic prisoner swap for three convicted Iranian bombers in prison in Thailand.

Continue reading...

Europeans urged to quickly set out roadmap on Iran nuclear deal

Posted on by

Diplomats call on UK, France and Germany to map out task facing incoming Biden administration

France, Germany and the UK must move quickly to set out a roadmap for Iran and the incoming Biden administration in the US to come back into compliance with the nuclear deal, some of Europe’s leading diplomats have said.

They warn that unless the three countries, known as the E3, coordinate a joint public statement setting out what both sides must do to end the impasse, there is a real risk that Joe Biden will come to power facing only escalating tensions with Iran.

Continue reading...

Iran says nuclear scientist killed by remote-controlled device

Posted on by

Official says no one was present at scene, and blames Israel and an exiled opposition group

A senior Iranian security official has accused Israel of using “electronic devices” to carry out a remote assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the country’s supreme national security council, made the comments at the funeral for Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Continue reading...

Is Iran likely to retaliate over assassination of top nuclear scientist?

Posted on by

Analysis: Despite calls to attack Israel, Iran may decide that avoiding conflict is wisest

The assassination of the top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in a suspected Israeli operation raises questions over what, if anything, Iran may do to retaliate.

Continue reading...

Kushner heading to Saudi Arabia and Qatar amid tensions over Iranian scientist killing

Posted on by

Senior White House adviser and his team to travel this week for talks with Saudi crown prince and emir of Qatar

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is headed to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week for talks in a region simmering with tension after the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist.

A senior administration official said on Sunday that Kushner is to meet the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in the Saudi city of Neom, and the emir of Qatar in that country in the coming days. Kushner will be joined by Middle East envoys Avi Berkowitz and Brian Hook and Adam Boehler, chief executive of the US International Development Finance Corporation.

Continue reading...

Iranian nuclear chief’s body prepared for burial as anger focused on Israel and US

Posted on by

Newspaper publishes comment urging retaliation with strike on Haifa that ‘causes heavy human casualties’

The body of Iran’s most senior nuclear scientist has been prepared for burial as anger at Israel and the US boiled over in the country following his assassination last week.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s coffin, draped in the Iranian flag and topped with flowers, was transported to a Muslim shrine for prayers and last tributes, the country’s state news reported.

Continue reading...

Iran vows to ‘respond’ to killing of nuclear programme scientist – video

Posted on by

Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has said the country will respond to the killing of one of the country’s most senior scientists, who was identified by Israel as having headed a secret nuclear weapons programme.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the architect of Tehran’s nuclear strategy, was killed on Friday on a highway near the capital in a carefully planned assassination that has led to a serious escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

Continue reading...

Iran’s supreme leader calls for ‘definitive punishment’ of scientist’s killers

Posted on by

Ayatollah threatens retaliation after president blames Israel for assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

Iran’s supreme leader has called for the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of one of the country’s most senior scientists, who was identified by Israel as having headed a secret nuclear weapons programme.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the architect of Tehran’s nuclear strategy, was killed on Friday on a highway near the capital in a carefully planned assassination that has led to a serious escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

Continue reading...

Iran scientist’s assassination appears intended to undermine nuclear deal

Posted on by

Analysis: shooting of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh will do more harm to diplomacy than it does to Iran’s nuclear programme

The assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh may not much have impact on the Iranian nuclear programme he helped build, but it will certainly make it harder to salvage the deal intended to restrict that programme, and that is – so far - the most plausible motive.

Israel is widely agreed to be the most likely perpetrator. Mossad is reported to have been behind a string of assassinations of other Iranian nuclear scientists – reports Israeli officials have occasionally hinted were true.

Continue reading...

Kylie Moore-Gilbert faces long road back to normality, says fellow former hostage

Posted on by

Ana Diamond, who was held for more than six months, says the Australian academic was subject to a ‘sophisticated’ hostage-taking operation

Back on Australian soil, and safe in the enforced quiet of Covid quarantine, Kylie Moore-Gilbert faces a long road to recovery, according to another victim of Iran’s practice of seizing foreign nationals as hostages.

Ana Diamond was just 19 when she was seized by the country’s Revolutionary Guards in 2016, held for 200 days in solitary confinement and forced to endure a mock execution over baseless allegations she was a foreign spy.

Continue reading...

Iranian scientist’s death only the latest in long line of attacks blamed on Israel

Posted on by

The Middle East is on edge as the Trump administration enters its final weeks

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh may be the most senior Iranian nuclear scientist to have been assassinated but he is certainly not the first, joining at least four others during the past decade.

In killings Iran said were aimed at sabotaging its nuclear energy ambitions – it does not acknowledge using the technology for weapons – the country has consistently pointed the finger at Israel, its regional arch-foe.

Continue reading...

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh: key figure in Iran’s nuclear efforts who avoided limelight

Posted on by

Analysis: engineer was identified by UN report as central figure in work to develop atomic bombs

Outside of the circles who closely watch Iran’s nuclear programme in Israel, the US and at the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who has been shot dead in Tehran, was not a household name.

But for two decades the nuclear engineer – once a familiar sight to his students at Tehran’s Imam Hossein University, where he lectured in physics – was of interest to nuclear proliferation experts owing to the suspicion that he was a key figure in Iran’s nuclear efforts.

Continue reading...

Kylie Moore-Gilbert’s release shows dangers of making deals with Iran

Posted on by

Talks over other dual-national detainees risk encouraging Tehran to see hostage-taking as a winning strategy

The release of Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the British Australian academic, is a bittersweet moment for the relatives across the globe of other Iranian dual nationals still trapped in Iranian jails. Many families celebrated her release, but also asked themselves again whether their own governments are doing all they can to bring their loved ones home.

Sherry Izadi, the wife of a 66-year-old British-Iranian construction engineer, Anoosheh Ashoori, jailed for 10 years, told the Guardian: “It is extraordinary the lengths the Australian government was prepared to go to secure her release. They seem to have persuaded the Thai government to exchange three Iranians accused of terrorism in return for her release.” The three-way negotiations between the governments took six months.

Continue reading...

Kylie Moore-Gilbert released from Iran jail in prisoner exchange

Posted on by

British-Australian academic has been imprisoned in Iran since 2018

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the Australian-British academic detained by Iran on espionage charges, has been released in a prisoner exchange for three Iranians.

In what will be seen as a victory for Iranian state hostage-taking by some and a humanitarian move by others, Moore-Gilbert was released on Wednesday morning. The move also raises hopes for the fate of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, dual UK-Iranian nationals who have been held since 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Continue reading...

Iranian president upbeat about relations with Biden-led US

Posted on by

Hassan Rouhani tells Tehran cabinet he hopes US will ‘condemn Trump policies against Iran’ and lift sanctions

Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said on Wednesday it would be easy to solve the country’s problems with the US so long as Joe Biden stuck to the commitments he made on the campaign trail.

Rouhani’s optimistic remarks to a weekly cabinet contrasted with a speech the day before by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which sketched out a more difficult path to normalisation and the lifting of sanctions.

Continue reading...