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 by Staff Writers Tehran (AFP) June 24, 2018
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned Sunday that failure to save the nuclear deal after the exit of the United States would be "very dangerous" for Tehran. The United States announced in May that it was withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions that would hit international businesses working in the Islamic republic. The other parties to the deal -- Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia -- have vowed to stay in the accord but appear powerless to stop their companies pulling out of Iran for fear of US penalties. "Failure of the JCPOA (nuclear deal) would be very dangerous for us," Zarif told members of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, quoted by the official IRNA news agency. IRNA did not say if he amplified on the dangers posed to Iran. "This is certainly not the (Iranian political) system's choice," added Zarif, one of the architect's of the nuclear pact. Iran has been holding talks with European Union leaders and other officials seeking ways to keep the deal alive, as well as economic guarantees. Some European firms doing business in Iran have begun to pack up and leave since the US exit, while the rial has lost more than 47 percent of its value against the dollar since September Following the US decision to pull out of the deal in May, Zarif embarked on a tour of Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia. And President Hassan Rouhani is expected to visit Switzerland and Austria in July as part of Iran's efforts to secure continued European support for the deal, Bern and Vienna have said. Iran has warned it is ready to resume uranium enrichment to 20 percent "within days" if the deal falls apart. That is still within civilian-use limits, and Iran has always insisted its nuclear programme is not for military purposes, but the level is far above the 3.67 percent enrichment permitted under the 2015 agreement. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned Iran "will never tolerate both suffering from sanctions and nuclear restrictions" and called for preparations to speed up uranium enrichment.
UN's top court to hear Iran row with US over frozen assets The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said in a statement Friday it will "hold public hearings in the case concerning Certain Iranian Assets (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America), from Monday 8 to Friday 12 October 2018" at its seat in The Hague. The hearings "will be devoted to preliminary objections raised by the United States," the statement added, after which judges will decide whether or not they can rule in the dispute. The case was lodged by Tehran in June 2016 accusing the US of breaking a decades-old bilateral treaty, dating from the time of the Shah, by seizing Iranian financial assets and those of Iranian companies. US courts have "awarded total damages of over $56 billion ... against Iran in respect of its alleged involvement in various terrorist acts mainly outside the US," Iran said. The case was filed just weeks after the US Supreme Court ruled in April 2016 that $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets should be paid to about 1,000 survivors and relatives of those killed in attacks blamed on the Islamic republic. These included the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. But Tehran reacted angrily to the ruling which came almost a year after the landmark nuclear deal with world powers which led to the unblocking of other frozen funds. To the dismay of the other world powers, US President Donald Trump has since walked away from the nuclear deal, and the United States in 2017 raised objections to the court's hearing of the case. The four days of public audiences are expected to focus on whether the ICJ judges can take up the case under the strict rules governing their procedures. Set up in 1946, the ICJ rules in disputes between states on the basis of existing treaties and international law. Iran argues that the US is breaking the terms of the 1955 Treaty of Amity signed with the then regime of the Shah long before he was ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The treaty governs economic ties and consular rights. But the US severed bilateral diplomatic ties with Iran in 1979 after 52 Americans were taken hostage in the US embassy in Tehran. They have not yet been fully restored. Iran meanwhile is also demanding that the United States "make full reparations to Iran for the violation of its international legal obligations in an amount to be determined by the court at a subsequent stage of the proceedings."
Iraq police in armed clash with pro-Iran militia in Baghdad Baghdad (AFP) June 20, 2018 Iraqi police surrounded the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia and detained one of its members after an armed clash Wednesday left three people wounded in Baghdad, a security official said. The powerful Hezbollah Brigades militia is part of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary units that battled the Islamic State group (IS) in Iraq. A shootout erupted after a police patrol in the Iraqi capital stopped a car, only for a convoy of Hezbollah Brigades members to arrive, an interior ministry offici ... read more
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