Tag Archives: France

Iran is not ready to return to talks with world powers over its nuclear programme yet and its new negotiating team wants to first meet with the EU in Brussels in the next few weeks, a senior EU official said on Friday. EU political director Enrique Mora, the chief coordinator …

US, Israeli and EU officials took a tough line toward Iran on Wednesday (13 October), with US officials saying they would consider all options if Tehran failed to revive the 2015 nuclear deal and Israel saying it reserved the right to act. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has so far refused …

The United States on Thursday denounced Hezbollah’s deliveries of Iranian fuel in crisis-hit Lebanon as a public relations stunt and warned that Tehran remained under sanctions. Iran is set to deliver more fuel in the coming days to Lebanon for distribution by Hezbollah, the Shiite movement that has shown its …

A group of 136 countries on Friday set a minimum global tax rate of 15 percent for big companies and sought to make it harder for them to avoid taxation in a landmark deal that US President Joe Biden said levelled the playing field. The deal aims to end a …

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s uncle Rifaat al-Assad has returned to Syria after 37 years in exile, the al-Watan online newspaper reported on Friday evening. According to the report, president Assad has allowed the return of his uncle, who left Syria in 1984 after mounting a failed coup against his brother …

It may not be among the usual tasks for a top diplomat, but the French ambassador to the UAE has found himself caring for a pet bird left behind by an Afghan refugee girl. Xavier Chatel took in the bird after the girl, named Alia, was forced to abandon her …

Security Council members on Thursday extended once again the UN’s mandate in Libya, until the end of January 2022. But permanent members, including the US and UK, expressed dissatisfaction with the council’s inability to reach an agreement on an overhaul of the UN Support Mission in Libya that would have …

Iran wants a resumption of nuclear talks with world powers to lead to the removal of U.S. sanctions, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told the annual U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday in a pre-recorded address. “The Islamic Republic considers the useful talks whose ultimate outcome is the lifting of all oppressive …

The reaction of France to the new trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK and the US brings to mind a powerful cartoon published by an American newspaper during the Trump years, when the US president was ruling by executive order to evade Congress. The cartoon, which appeared in the …

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will have no access to footage captured by surveillance cameras at Iranian nuclear sites, Iran’s state-run Press TV channel said on Twitter on Saturday. The channel added that an “informed source rejects reports suggesting that Iran may reconsider (its) decision on IAEA access restrictions.” …

France, Britain and Germany are working on a United Nations proposal aimed at establishing a safe zone in Kabul to allow safe passage for people trying to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday. Macron, who said France had begun discussions with the Taliban to explore how further …

G7 foreign ministers called on Thursday for the international community to unite in its response to the crisis in Afghanistan to prevent it from escalating further, a statement issued by British foreign minister Dominic Raab said. “The G7 Ministers call on the international community to come together with a shared …

Iraq restarted talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after previously halting efforts to secure aid, the country’s finance minister Ali Allawi told reporters on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Talks between both parties began last year amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as demand shock sent oil prices tumbling, but were …

French President Emmanuel Macron will host a new international conference on Lebanon next month on the first anniversary of the Beirut port explosion, after premier-designate Saad Hariri gave up trying to form a government, the foreign ministry announced Friday. Macron will organize the conference on August 4 with the help …

Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri abandoned his months-long effort to form a new government on Thursday, dimming the chances of a cabinet being agreed any time soon that could start rescuing the country from financial meltdown. Hariri announced his decision after meeting President Michel Aoun, saying it was clear they could not agree, …

Lebanon’s prime minister-designate Saad Al-Hariri said on Wednesday he had presented a cabinet proposal to President Michel Aoun and is awaiting his response on Thursday, in a move that could end almost nine months of political deadlock amid an economic collapse. “Now is the moment of truth,” Hariri, who has …

The European Union said on Monday it wanted to agree by the end of July the legal framework for a sanctions regime targeting Lebanese leaders, but cautioned that the measure would not be immediately implemented. Led by France, the EU is seeking to ramp up pressure on Lebanon’s squabbling politicians …

Qatar will provide the Lebanese armed forces with 70 tonnes of food a month, the Qatari state news agency QNA reported, as Lebanon seeks assistance amid its worst economic and political crisis since a 1975-1990 civil war. Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun had appealed to world powers at meeting in France last …

Diab, who has been heading a cabinet in a caretaker capacity for more than 10 months, said any government would need the support of “friendly nations to save the country from the predicament it currently finds itself in.” Lebanon has been without a fully functioning government since Diab resigned in …

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed to US President Joe Biden’s administration to lift or waive all sanctions on Iran as agreed under a 2015 deal aimed at stopping Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. In a report to the UN Security Council, Guterres also urged the United States to …

Taha Riz has worked just three days in more than a month at his Tripoli bakery, in Lebanon’s neglected north where economic meltdown has hit hardest and plunged thousands like him into precarious poverty. The bakery, like Tripoli itself, survived earlier hardship when sectarian tensions fuelled by the war in …

Parties negotiating a revival of the Iran nuclear deal will hold a formal meeting in Vienna on Sunday, the European Union said on Saturday. Iran and six world powers have been negotiating in Vienna since April to work out steps for Washington and Tehran to take. The United States withdrew …

“How on earth do you get to the point where somebody like Carlos (Ghosn) has to hang out with shadowy figures to smuggle him out across an international border, halfway across the world, safely?” Nick Green, the director of an upcoming documentary about the former Nissan chairman called “The Last …

Part of the file being considered by French investigating judges who questioned fugitive former car executive Carlos Ghosn in Beirut this week should be considered invalid, his defense team said on Friday. French judges have been holding hearings in Beirut’s Palace of Justice since Monday, in a process that Ghosn’s …

Iran has failed to explain traces of uranium found at several undeclared sites, a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog showed on Monday, possibly setting up a fresh diplomatic clash between Tehran and the West that could derail wider nuclear talks. Three months ago Britain, France and Germany scrapped a U.S.-backed …

Lebanon’s army carried out large-scale military exercises on Monday to test its readiness to deal with a nationwide crisis. The “Lebanon Wide” exercise included units from the army, the Internal Security Forces, General Security, State Security, the General Directorate of Customs, the General Directorate of Civil Defense, the Lebanese Red …

After recently coming fifth in the UNESCO International Competition for the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Mosul’s Al-Nouri Mosque with his team, Samir Nicolas Saddi has big plans for heritage rehabilitation around the Middle East. The Beirut-born Canadian-Lebanese architect, who founded the Arab Research Center for Architecture and Design of the …

The European Union’s political director said on Wednesday that he was “quite sure” that there would be a final agreement to revive the Iran nuclear deal. “We have made substantial progress over the last 10 days but there are still things to be worked on and we will reconvene next …

China’s UN ambassador says France is seeking a UN Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants who control Gaza. Zhang Jun, the current council president, confirmed that France’s UN Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere informed the council during the third round of closed consultations Tuesday on …

Political and economic figures have expressed their opposition to dragging Lebanon into a regional conflict amid the Palestine-Israel crisis and violent clashes. The Vice President of the General Labor Confederation Hassan Fakih warned against “taking the country into total chaos that will wipe out what is left of Lebanon.” His …

The EU is drawing up sanctions on politicians in Lebanon seen as blocking the formation of a government, readying the bloc’s first penalties on its Middle Eastern ally in frustration at the ruling elite’s mismanagement, diplomats said. Led by former colonial power France, the bloc is seeking to ramp up …

The governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK have called on Israel to drop its plans to illegally build hundreds of new houses in an area of the occupied West Bank which would isolate a Palestinian neighborhood. “We urge the government of Israel to reverse its decision to …

Egypt has signed a contract with France to buy 30 Rafale fighter jets, its defense ministry said in a statement early on Tuesday, in a deal that investigative website Disclose said on Monday was worth 3.75 billion euro ($4.5 billion). Egypt’s defense ministry said the deal would be financed through …

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said on Saturday Tehran expects U.S. sanctions on oil, banks and most individuals and institutions to be lifted based on agreements so far in Vienna talks, Iranian media reported, while Washington again played down the prospect of an imminent breakthrough. Russia and Western European powers meanwhile …

Negotiators trying to revive the collapsed nuclear deal with Iran are close to a draft agreement, leading envoys said on Monday. Talks are continuing in Vienna aimed at rescuing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal with world powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in return for the …

Talks on reviving the nuclear deal with Iran will pick up speed after a second round of negotiations ended in Vienna, delegates said on Saturday. China’s envoy to the talks said all participants — China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Iran — had agreed to accelerate work on issues including …

Iran and global powers resumed talks on Thursday to rescue the 2015 nuclear deal in an effort potentially complicated by Tehran’s decision to ramp up uranium enrichment and what it called Israeli sabotage at a nuclear site. Casting a shadow over the Vienna talks, Tehran on Tuesday announced its decision …

The U.N. atomic watchdog on Friday flagged a new breach by Iran of its nuclear deal with major powers on the day those powers met to revive the agreement, a report by the agency seen by Reuters showed, likely raising tensions with Western powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency avoids …

Diplomats from major powers met separately on Wednesday with Iran and the United States to discuss how to bring both back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal that Washington abandoned three years ago. Neither the United States nor Iran expect fast breakthroughs in the talks that began in Vienna …

Iran and world powers will meet on Friday after their experts flesh out concrete plans on how the United States would lift sanctions and Iran return to its obligations, as part of indirect talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear. European intermediaries have started shuttling between Iranian and U.S. officials …

Iran’s government wants the United States to lift all sanctions on its country and rejects any “step-by-step” easing of the restrictions, Iranian state broadcaster Press TV reported on Saturday. The two countries said on Friday they would hold indirect talks in Vienna from next week as part of broader negotiations …

Representatives of Iran and world powers will meet next Tuesday in Vienna to discuss the troubled 2015 nuclear deal, Iranian and European officials said after holding virtual talks on Friday aimed at reviving the accord. Iran, China, Russia, France, Germany and Britain – all parties to the 2015 deal – …

Lebanon’s top Christian cleric has made unusually direct comments criticizing the Shi’ite Hezbollah movement, accusing it of harming the country by dragging it into regional conflicts. “I want to tell them…You want us to stay in a state of war that you decide? Are you asking us before you go …

Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri said on Thursday after a meeting with President Michel Aoun that forming a government that could re-engage with the IMF was the only way to halt the country’s financial collapse. The meeting took place after a heated exchange on Wednesday night between the two politicians, …