Raisi Ready for Vienna Talks But Without Examining Regional Influence, Ballistic Missile Program

 Iran’s Foreign Minister-designate speaks to members of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee (Khaneh Mellat)
Iran’s Foreign Minister-designate speaks to members of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee (Khaneh Mellat)
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Raisi Ready for Vienna Talks But Without Examining Regional Influence, Ballistic Missile Program

 Iran’s Foreign Minister-designate speaks to members of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee (Khaneh Mellat)
Iran’s Foreign Minister-designate speaks to members of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee (Khaneh Mellat)

The new Raisi administration in Iran is preparing to return to nuclear talks without the thought of presenting any concessions that would encourage Washington to extend or expand the deal so that it tackles the cleric-led country’s ballistic missiles program and regional interferences.

On Sunday, Tehran lawmaker Esmaeil Kousari said that under President Ebrahim Raisi, the new government will continue “holding negotiations” but “without giving any compromises.”

“If nuclear weapons are bad, they should be considered as bad for all countries, including the US,” said Kousari, who is also a prominent figure from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

“They tell us to quit our influence in the region and not to have missiles(…) If it were decided for us not to have these missiles, then they must not have them either,” argued Kousari in a statement to government website “Asr Iran.”

Kousari moved on to clarify that halting nuclear talks is not planned and stressed that “negotiations will take place.”

“However, if they don’t want to treat us fairly, we won’t accept,” said the legislator.

Kousari’s statements come when parliament is looking to deliberate over the cabinet list submitted by Raisi, which introduces Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a diplomat who is close to the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, as Iran’s next foreign minister.

Before Raisi named Abdollahian as his pick for foreign minister, the veteran diplomat had held a two-hour discussion session with the EU point man on the Vienna nuclear talks, Enrique Mora. The session was held on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of Raisi.

After meeting Mora, Abdollahian tweeted that “negotiating with the US was never forbidden, but that the problem rather lies in the US’ bullying.”

Abdollahian also emphasized that “timing and force” are the two main pillars of any diplomatic negotiation.

In his tweet, the Foreign Minister-designate attached a photo from the 2006-2007 rare US-Iran talks over the war in Iraq.



Multiple Quakes Leave Casualties in Guatemala, Cause Landslides

Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
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Multiple Quakes Leave Casualties in Guatemala, Cause Landslides

Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A series of dozens of earthquakes were recorded in the span of hours in Guatemala, leaving two dead when rocks fell on their vehicle, authorities said. Landslides left several others buried.

More than 37 earthquakes and aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 3.0 to 5.6 were reported in Guatemala Tuesday afternoon, said Edwin Rodas, director of the National Institute for Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology.

The tremors resulted in the evacuation of buildings, landslides, and minor property damage, officials said, adding they were felt as far away as El Salvador.
The two men killed were traveling in a pickup truck on a local road in the department of Escuintla when the rocks fell from a hillside onto the vehicle, firefighters said, according to The Associated Press.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said at a press conference Tuesday that the main epicenter of the quakes was in the department of Sacatepéquez, with aftershocks in the regions of Escuintla and Guatemala department.

At least five people were buried by landslides, but emergency responders were able to rescue two, he added.

The National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction declared an orange alert, the second-highest on the emergency scale.

The US Geological Survey reported a 4.8 magnitude earthquake at 3:11 p.m. local time, 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) southwest of the town of Amatitlán, south of Guatemala City, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). It then reported another 5.7 magnitude quake 3 kilometers (2 miles) northwest of San Vicente Pacaya, a municipality in Escuintla, in the south-central region of the country.

Another 4.8 magnitude quake was reported 6 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of Palín, also in Escuintla.