UK Envoy Warns Over Iran’s Uranium Stockpile, Arms Supply To Russia

"We have seen [a] moving away from the non-constructive atmosphere and destructive politics in the opposite parties," Nasser Kanaani told a weekly presser on Monday.

Seemingly referring to covert talks with the US, which the US continues to deny, Kanaani also said however, that the talks are still "not enough", though did not elaborate further.

About two weeks ago, another round of negotiations was held between Ali Bagheri-Kani, Iran's Chief Nuclear Negotiator, and Enrique Mora, the Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs and Director of the European External Action Service, in Doha.

One day after the meeting, CNN quoted an informed source as saying that the discussion appears to be “leading to positive developments on many issues.”

According to CNN, it seems a momentum is building to revive the talks over Iran's expanding nuclear program.

CNN also added that the meeting focused on key sticking points, including nuclear enrichment levels and Iranian cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

However, on Sunday, the Guardian wrote that the three European countries that signed the JCPOA plan to breach the JCPOA for the first time by refusing to lift sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

In recent days, the forced leave of the United States Special Representative for Iran Robert Malley, has fueled the uncertainties about the talks between the United States and Tehran.

Referring to the protests which have erupted in France following the death in police hands of a young Muslim, Anne-Claire Legendre said: “We understand your concern for human rights and the lives of French citizens ... and for this reason, we will not kill anyone with a weapon of war, nor will we shoot an eye to blind it!”

Legendre's comments came after Spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nasser Kanaani “advised the French government and police to take into account the demands of the protesters while exercising restraint and avoiding violence,” the issue widely covered in Iranian state media.

Legendre was referring to the killing of hundreds of protesters by the Iranian regime in the months following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September. The Islamic Republic security forces have also been systematically targeting protesters’ eyes.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights on Friday documented over 20 cases of people being blinded in one eye as a result of fire from the security agents during protests, adding that initial data indicates that young women were disproportionately represented among people who had sustained such wounds.

The group claimed that Iran Human Rights researchers have collected and verified information related to many citizens who have lost their sight in one or both eyes as a result of being shot with shotguns or paintball guns in the nationwide protests in recent months. The report also provided a list of cases independently verified by their researchers, noting that the real number is much higher.

Iranian lawmaker Ali Khezrian said Sunday that parts of a recent agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are contrary to the "strategic action" law ratified by the parliament in December 2020. 

Khezrian is an influential lawmaker belonging to the hardline Paydari group dominating the Iranian parliament.

He was referring to the bill passed by the parliament, dominated by hardliners, in December 2020, dubbed the ‘Strategic Action To Eliminate Sanctions and Defend Iranian Nation's Interests.’ 

The bill authorized higher-level uranium enrichment to force the United States to lift economic sanctions imposed in 2018, when former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA nuclear agreement. 

The bill also mandated restrictions on nuclear monitoring by the IAEA. Since the passage of the law, Iran has further restricted international monitoring and inspections, adding to the complicated dynamics of renewing the JCPOA. 

The bill’s stipulation about higher levels of uranium enrichment was not an empty negotiating tactic. Iran actually began enrichment at 20 percent in early 2021, breaking the JCPOA limit of 3.65 percent. Subsequently, enrichment was increased to 60 percent during talks with West to revive the JCPOA. Tehran now has enough fissile material for at least two nuclear bombs, and it also gradually restricted IAEA monitoring access to its nuclear facilities, introducing another complicating factor into the JCPOA talks. 

Khezrian, who is the spokesman of the parliament’s Article 90 Committee, made the remarks as he was talking about a recent meeting of the Committee and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami and his deputies.  

The committee is supposed to deal with complaints against the President, Parliament or the Judiciary.

Khezrian said that after Eslami briefed the committee on the agreement reached with the IAEA in March, the lawmakers were unanimous that it violates the "strategic action" law as well as the orders of the Supreme Leader. 

He said that re-installing IAEA monitoring systems at Esfahan (Isfahan) nuclear site was beyond the Safeguards Agreement and based on the additional protocol to the IAEA-Iran agreement, which cover basic requirements of cooperation with the IAEA under the NPT. He added that two EMDs (Environmental Monitoring Devices) were also installed at Natanz and Fordow nuclear sites to oversee the enrichment lines, calling them even beyond the JCPOA. 

According to Khezrian, “the EMDs were installed without obtaining legal permits from the relevant authorities, which is not only against the law approved by the parliament, but also beyond the JCPOA obligations, because in the JCPOA, the OLEM (the On-Line Enrichment Monitor) device is mentioned for measuring the level of enrichment, so it should be clarified what are the differences between these two devices.” 

Earlier in June, Iran said it reinstalled 10 cameras of the UN nuclear watchdog in one of its installations that were removed last year when the UN watchdog’s board of governors in June 2022 censured Tehran for its lack of cooperation with the agency. 

Following his criticism, several lawmakers close to the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi – and members of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee -- rejected Khezrian’s claims, emphasizing that the recent measures are in line with the law. 

MP Shahriar Heidari said that the ‘strategic action law’ had been written and approved with the aim of canceling sanctions, adding, “If the other side accepts the lifting of sanctions, cooperation between Iran and the IAEA is bound to increase according to the clauses of the Law.” 

Echoing similar views, lawmakers Fada-Hossein Maleki and Yaghoub Rezazadeh said that the measures adopted by the country’s nuclear agency are “completely in line with the law of strategic action.” 

All these remarks were made a few days after IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi expressed concerns about Iran's nuclear program and the regime’s sluggish cooperation with the agency. "Iran's continuing enrichment activities, it's raising concerns,” he said. 

The recent movements in the Iranian political landscape seem to be a reaction to reports that European diplomats have informed Tehran they plan to retain EU ballistic missile sanctions set to expire in October under the defunct 2015 Iran nuclear deal. 

According to a report published by the Guardian on Sunday, the UK and other European powers are expected soon to announce plans to breach the 2015 Iran nuclear deal for the first time. The justification cited by EU and British diplomats included Iran’s own breach of the accord. 

The political commentator, whose statements about the nuclear negotiations have received a lot of mixed reactions over time, was sacked upon reported differences with the dean.

Shargh daily Sunday quoted Marandi as saying that the reason for his dismissal was his objection to "the sale of degrees and Tehran University's loss of reputation".

Marandi was the dean of Tehran University's World Studies Center. However, academics in Tehran say the center no longer exists. That could explain Marandi's official title as "Former head of the university's World Studies Center."

Marandi was ridiculed by some Iranian commentators in recent months for having said last summer that "a hard winter in Europe" will force European powers to come back to the negotiating table. Marandi had predicted: "The winter is coming, and the EU will have to face a paralyzing energy crisis."

A few months later pundits in Iran scorched Marandi over his prediction while Iran itself faced energy shortage in winter.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, an outspoken critic of the government in foreign policy, said predictions by Iranian officials that Europe would plunge into cold, and they would run back to nuclear negotiations with Iran have turned out to be "illusions."

Marandi was born in the US in 1966. He is the son of Alireza Marandi who is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's family doctor. When he first came to Iran after his father was appointed Health Minister, Mohammad was only 13.

The country's air force said that the attack included eight Iranian-made Shahed drones and three cruise missiles which were shot down.

"Another enemy attack on Kyiv," Serhiy Popko, a colonel general who heads Kyiv's military administration, said in a post on the Telegram channel.

Iran has supplied hundreds of Shahed kamikaze drones to Russia since mid-2022, angering the United States and its key European allies who have imposed sanctions on a host of companies and individuals involved in their production and shipment to Russia.

Washington has demanded that Tehran should stop its supply of weapons to Moscow if it wants to reach a new nuclear agreement and see US sanctions lifted.

Although Ukrainian forces quickly learned to shoot down most Iranian drones, Russia uses the cheap weapon to overwhelm air defenses and force Ukraine to use much more expensive Western anti-air missiles.

Three private houses were damaged as a result of falling drone debris in the Kyiv region, injuring one person, the military head of the region, Ruslan Kravchenko, said on his Facebook page.

Reuters witnesses heard blasts resembling the sound of air defense systems hitting targets. There was no immediate information about the scale of the attack.

Kyiv, its surrounding region and a number of central and eastern Ukraine's regions were under air raid alerts for about an hour after 2 a.m. local time (2300 GMT).

With reporting by Reuters, The Kyiv Independent