US Contradicts Itself As Denials Of Nuclear Talks Continue

Two men publicly burned the Quran outside Stockholm's central mosque on Wednesday, an act approved by a Swedish court.

It was deliberately timed to coincide with the significant Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, further magnifying the incident's significance.

Urging the European country to take responsibility and address the issue seriously, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said: “Creating a platform for the repetition of sacrilege against celestial sanctities, especially during the sacred days of the Islamic world and the gathering of millions of Muslims at the world congress of hajj, is a provocative, unacceptable act.

“Insulting heavenly scriptures is a manifestation of violence, hatred, and contrary to the fundamental values of human rights," disregarding the regime's systematic oppression of women and minorities under its own jurisdiction and its generally appalling human rights record.

Some 200 onlookers witnessed one of the two protesters tearing up pages of a copy of the Koran and wiping his shoes with it before putting bacon in it and setting the book on fire, while the other spoke into a megaphone.

Some of those present shouted "God is Great" in Arabic to protest against the burning, and one man was detained by police after he attempted to throw a rock.

Meanwhile, Morocco recalled its ambassador to Sweden late Wednesday to protest the desecration.

Turkey’s foreign minister also criticized the move saying it is “unacceptable to allow anti-Islam protests in the name of freedom of expression”.

Burning religious texts is "disrespectful and hurtful", the deputy spokesperson for the US State Department told reporters in a daily briefing as well. "What might be legal is certainly not necessarily appropriate," Vedant Patel said.

Four sources cited three reasons for keeping the sanctions: Russia's use of Iranian drones against Ukraine; the possibility Iran might transfer ballistic missiles to Russia; and depriving Iran of the nuclear deal's benefits given Tehran has violated the accord, albeit only after the United States did so first.

Keeping the EU sanctions would reflect Western efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them despite the collapse of the 2015 deal, which then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018.

The crux of that pact, which Iran made with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, limited Tehran's nuclear program to make it harder for it to get fissile material for a bomb in return for relief from economic sanctions.

As a result of Trump's withdrawal from the deal and US President Joe Biden's failure to revive it, Iran could make the fissile material for one bomb in 12 days or so, according to US estimates, down from a year when the accord was in force.

With that deal effectively dead, Iran's relations with the West have deteriorated over the last year, leading Washington and its allies to look for ways to de-escalate tensions and, if that happened, for a way to revive some kind of nuclear limits.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, which the West sees as a threat to Israel and Gulf Arab oil exporters.

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Possible Iranian Retaliation

"The Iranians have been told quite clearly (of plans to keep the sanctions) and now the question is what, if any, retaliatory steps the Iranians might take and (how) to anticipate that," said a Western diplomat on condition of anonymity.

The EU sanctions are set to expire on Oct. 18 under a UN resolution that enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal.

They "called upon" Iran not to do anything to develop ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons, a phrase urging Iran not to do so but short of a mandatory prohibition.

They also barred anyone from buying, selling or transferring drones and their components capable of flying more than 300 km (186 miles) to or from Iran without prior authorization from the UN Security Council, permission that has not been granted.

Since 2017, Iran has carried out a series of ballistic missile tests and satellite launches despite the resolution and, in May, it launched a missile with a potential 2,000-km range.

European powers are alarmed by the growing defense relationship between Tehran and Moscow, which Western officials say has seen Russia use Iranian drones to strike Ukraine, and the possibility Iran could supply ballistic missiles to Russia.

It was not clear whether the E3, a group comprised of Britain, France and Germany, told Iran of their intent to retain the EU sanctions when their senior officials met Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani on June 12 in Abu Dhabi.

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EU diplomat Enrique Mora, who co-ordinates talks on the 2015 deal, raised the issue of keeping the EU sanctions when he met Bagheri Kani in Doha on June 21, but the Iranian official refused to discuss the matter, an Iranian official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

A second Iranian official brushed off the possibility of the sanctions remaining, saying Tehran had advanced its nuclear and missile programs for years despite Western sanctions.

"Maintaining sanctions, in any capacity and form, will not hinder Iran's ongoing advancements," said this Iranian official, also on condition of anonymity. "It serves as a reminder that the West cannot be relied upon and trusted."

Nuclear Deal 'No Longer Exists'

Britain's foreign ministry did not comment on whether the E3 planned to keep the sanctions or had told Iran of any decision.

However, a British foreign ministry spokesperson said the June 12 talks in Abu Dhabi "covered the range of our concerns about Iran's behaviour, including its continued nuclear escalation."

France and Germany's foreign ministries have made similar comments about those talks.

A European diplomat said Mora had started laying the legal groundwork to retain the sanctions, which would have to be approved by all 27 EU members. Two sources said the issue had not yet been discussed among all EU states.

"The lifting of sanctions was based on the principle that 2231 would be respected," this diplomat said, referring to the UN Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 deal. "That has not been the case, so there is a discussion with the Iranians to make clear that we won't lift these sanctions."

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EU Spokesperson Nabila Massrali said the JCPOA sets out in some detail the commitments of different participants on the so-called Transition Day which was still several months away (Oct. 18).

"We will provide further information on EU related aspects in due course," she said in response to detailed questions by Reuters.

Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, any party could trigger the "snapback" or return of all sanctions that it removed. Most US sanctions were restored after Trump left the deal.

However, three sources said the E3 did not wish to do this chiefly because it would undercut a threat conveyed in a letter from their foreign ministers to Iran last year that they would trigger "snapback" if Iran enriched uranium to weapons-grade.

Iran has enriched uranium to 60% purity and the UN nuclear watchdog has found traces enriched to 83.7%, short of the 90% seen as weapons grade. The 2015 deal capped enrichment at 3.67%.

Henry Rome, an analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said an EU decision to retain the sanctions would be the first significant instance of the E3 not abiding by the terms of the nuclear deal.

"It doesn't replace the UN provisions but it would ensure, at least within the powers of European governments, that they are not condoning this type of Iranian behavior," Rome said. "And it does reflect that the Security Council resolution is enshrining a deal that no longer exists in any realistic form."

(Exclusive report by Reuters)

"There is no agreement in the offing, even as we continue to be willing to explore diplomatic paths," Blinken said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

"We'll see by their actions," Blinken said of the future relationship, calling on Iran to choose to "not take actions that further escalate the tensions" with the United States and in the Middle East.

The Biden administration has been denying all media reports about an alleged interim and limited deal that would release billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian frozen assets in exchange for some restraint in Tehran’s uranium enrichment program.

Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen held a telephone call Tuesday and consulted over Iran’s “destabilizing behavior” in the region and “Israel’s integration into the region,” a possible reference to US efforts to expand the Abraham Accords by convincing Saudi Arabia to establish relations with Israel.

Washington’s contacts with Tehran also involved negotiations over the possible release of three US dual nationals taken hostage by Iran. Oman and Qatar have been acting as intermediaries, with some meetings taking place in Muscat.

As part of his official visit Ahmadreza Radan, a general notorious for repressing protests, met with General Viktor Zolotov.

The TASS news agency reported that the two sides discussed cooperation and exchange of experiences in law enforcement and "fighting terrorism and extremism."

"The document provides for an exchange of experience in law enforcement, protection of crucial government facilities, combating terrorism and extremism, and providing support for measures to counter crime," the press service added.

Before the meeting, the Iran in delegation visited the central museum of Rosgvardiya to view the latest models of weapons and special equipment. In addition, dog trainers and members of the rapid reaction unit demonstrated their skills at neutralizing armed criminals.

Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council, also spoke earlier on Wednesday with Iran's police chief.

Earlier, Alexei Zhuravlev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, suggested that Radan would discuss with Patrushev the fight against terrorist organizations in Eurasia and alleged plots by Western intelligence agencies to destabilize" the situation in Russia and Iran.

“It is possible to exchange experience in countering the attempts of Western intelligence services to destabilize the situation and organize riots...We are cooperating productively both in Syria, where Tehran initially took the side of Damascus, and in the Caspian region, where together we determine the vectors of navigation and fishing traffic in this inland reservoir,” Zhuravlev noted on Tuesday.

According to him, Iran also has the experience of successfully resisting Western sanctions that it can share it with the Russian Federation.

Meanwhile local media in Iran reported that Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, had a phone conversation with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, during which he invited him to visit Tehran.

Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Ahmadreza Radan as Iran's police chief in January after four months of popular anti-regime protests.

Most of Radan's ill reputation dates back to his role as police chief during the post-election unrest in 2009 and the performance of his men at the Kahrizak detention center where several young protesters including children of some state officials were killed as a result of police brutality.

Radan was sanctioned for his human rights violations by the United States as early as 2010 and has been blacklisted by the European Union.

Following the resumption of diplomatic ties, Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Tehran earlier this month and immediately held a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. 

At the press conference which followed, the top Saudi diplomat realized he was standing in front of a picture of IRGC general Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s architect of proxy wars in the Middle East, including arming Yemen’s Houthis against Saudi Arabia.

Prince Faisal immediately requested the venue of the press conference to be changed and the Iranian side complied in a bid not to tarnish the newly revived relations between the two countries after years of tension which isolated the Iranian régime in the region.

Ten days after the debacle, Mehdi Honardoust has been replaced by Mohsen Mortezaiefar, son of Mahmoud Mortezaiefar, the former presenter of Friday prayers.

Soleimani was killed in an air strike in January 2020 ordered by former US President Donald Trump - a victory for many in the region who saw themselves as victims of his reign of terror.