Zarif Calls for Saving the ‘Nuclear Agreement’

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu (not pictured) in Istanbul January 4, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu (not pictured) in Istanbul January 4, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
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Zarif Calls for Saving the ‘Nuclear Agreement’

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu (not pictured) in Istanbul January 4, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu (not pictured) in Istanbul January 4, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged Europe to take the lead for the sake of rescuing the international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program signed in 2015, threatening that Iran may abandon the nuclear deal if the United States decides to withdraw from it.

“Europe should lead,” Zarif said in an interview published Saturday by Britain's Guardian newspaper, considering that Trump is not reliable.

The Iranian foreign minister said he expected Trump to carry through his threat not to certify Iranian compliance in a state department report to Congress on 15 October. Congress would then have 60 days to re-impose sanctions suspended under the deal.

“The deal allowed Iran to continue its research and development. So we have improved our technological base. If we decide to walk away from the deal we would be walking away with better technology,” he stated.

Zarif continued, “If Europe, Japan, Russia and China decided to go along with the US, then I think that will be the end of the deal.” The deal aims at guaranteeing the peacefulness of the nuclear program and in return it stipulates a gradual lift of sanctions imposed on Iran since 2005.

Last Thursday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Russia for its attempt to shield Iran from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. “If the Iran nuclear deal is to have any meaning, the parties must have a common understanding of its terms,” Haley said. “Without inspections, the Iran deal is an empty promise,” she added.



Rescuers Search for 19 Missing, Recover 9 Bodies after Nepal Flooding

Rescuers evacuate stranded people from the site of a mudslide at the Gyirong Port area in Gyirong Township of Xigaze, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, 08 July 2025. EPA/XINHUA / Xu Dafu
Rescuers evacuate stranded people from the site of a mudslide at the Gyirong Port area in Gyirong Township of Xigaze, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, 08 July 2025. EPA/XINHUA / Xu Dafu
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Rescuers Search for 19 Missing, Recover 9 Bodies after Nepal Flooding

Rescuers evacuate stranded people from the site of a mudslide at the Gyirong Port area in Gyirong Township of Xigaze, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, 08 July 2025. EPA/XINHUA / Xu Dafu
Rescuers evacuate stranded people from the site of a mudslide at the Gyirong Port area in Gyirong Township of Xigaze, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, 08 July 2025. EPA/XINHUA / Xu Dafu

Dozens of rescuers searched the banks of a mountain river Wednesday looking for people missing after monsoon floods swept away Nepal's main bridge connecting to the country to China and caused at least nine deaths.

Police said dozens of rescuers were already at the area and more are expected to join the rescue efforts. Nine dead bodies have been recovered from the river. Security forces have rescued 55 people, including four Indians and a Chinese person so far, according to the Rasuwa District Administration Office.

Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, along with top ministers and officials, flew to the area, The Associated Press reported. Oli called an emergency meeting Tuesday night and instructed all security forces and government offices to assist the rescue and recovery efforts.

The flooding on the Bhotekoshi River early Tuesday destroyed the Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadi, which is 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Kathmandu. Several houses and trucks that were parked at the border for customs inspections also were swept away. Hundreds of electric vehicles imported from China had been parked at the border point.

The 19 missing are 13 Nepali citizens and six Chinese nationals, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

The Chinese and eight of the Nepalis were workers at a Chinese-assisted construction project on the Nepali side of the border, according to the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, quoted by state media.

The destruction of the bridge has halted all trade from China to Nepal through this route. The longer alternative is for goods to be shipped from China to India and then brought overland to Nepal.