Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said talks were 'progressing well'. AFP
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said talks were 'progressing well'. AFP
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said talks were 'progressing well'. AFP
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said talks were 'progressing well'. AFP

Iran's Khamenei says nuclear talks 'progressing well'


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Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal were advancing but urged officials not to place all bets on the Vienna talks.

“Work is progressing well in the negotiations,” Mr Khamenei told Iranian officials including President Ebrahim Raisi.

“Do not stop your work to wait for the results of the negotiations,” whatever they may be, he said in remarks published on his website.

Iran has been engaged for a year in talks with France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China directly, and the US indirectly, to revive the nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The 2015 agreement gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme to guarantee that Tehran could not develop a nuclear weapon — something it has always denied wanting to do.

But the US's unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018 under Donald Trump's presidency and the reimposition of biting economic sanctions led Iran to break its commitments under the agreement.

  • Russian contractors work at the Bushehr nuclear reactor site in 2007. The plant opened four years later. Bloomberg
    Russian contractors work at the Bushehr nuclear reactor site in 2007. The plant opened four years later. Bloomberg
  • An Iranian technician at the International Atomic Energy Agency inspects the country's Isfahan plant in 2007. Tehran is no longer co-operating with the agency at nuclear sites across the country. EPA
    An Iranian technician at the International Atomic Energy Agency inspects the country's Isfahan plant in 2007. Tehran is no longer co-operating with the agency at nuclear sites across the country. EPA
  • Workers wait to begin constructing a second reactor at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2019. AFP
    Workers wait to begin constructing a second reactor at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2019. AFP
  • A metal-encased rod with 20 per cent enriched nuclear fuel is inserted into a reactor in Tehran in 2012. AFP
    A metal-encased rod with 20 per cent enriched nuclear fuel is inserted into a reactor in Tehran in 2012. AFP
  • Fomer Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the country's Atomic Energy Organisation chief Ali Akbar Salehi speak at the Bushehr nuclear site in 2015. AFP
    Fomer Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the country's Atomic Energy Organisation chief Ali Akbar Salehi speak at the Bushehr nuclear site in 2015. AFP
  • Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant has been restarted. EPA
    Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant has been restarted. EPA
  • Mehdi Abrichamtchi, chairman of the Peace and Security Committee at the National Council of Resistance of Iran, shows journalists the location of a secret nuclear site in Iran in 2013. AFP
    Mehdi Abrichamtchi, chairman of the Peace and Security Committee at the National Council of Resistance of Iran, shows journalists the location of a secret nuclear site in Iran in 2013. AFP
  • Workers prepare to begin the construction of a second reactor at the Bushehr site. AFP
    Workers prepare to begin the construction of a second reactor at the Bushehr site. AFP

“Our negotiating team has until now resisted the excessive demands of the other party and will continue doing so,” Mr Khamenei said.

“It is the other party that has broken its promises (by pulling out of the accord) and they have arrived at an impasse,” he said, referring to the US.

On Sunday, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian accused Washington of “imposing new conditions” in the negotiations, without going into detail.

Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Monday questioned Washington's willingness to reach an agreement, as key sticking points remain unresolved.

The talks have been paused since March 11, having progressed most of the way towards reviving the deal, with different parties pointing to the “final phase".

But pending issues are still unresolved, foremost among them Tehran's demand to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran's military, from a US list of terrorist groups.

The US insisted last week that the IRGC's' elite Quds Force would remain on its designated list of terrorist groups.

Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face

The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.

The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran. 

Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf. 

"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said. 

Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer. 

The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy. 

 

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Scores

Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool
Arsenal 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Burnley 1-0 Brighton
Manchester United 4-1 Fulham
West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace

Saturday fixtures:
Chelsea v Manchester City, 9.30pm (UAE)
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur, 11.45pm (UAE)

In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

Nepotism is the name of the game

Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad. 

The past Palme d'Or winners

2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda

2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund

2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach

2015 DheepanJacques Audiard

2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan

2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux

2012 Amour, Michael Haneke

2011 The Tree of LifeTerrence Malick

2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul

2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke

2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Updated: April 12, 2022, 9:27 PM