Putin to Host Iranian President Next Week for Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with government members via a video link in Moscow, Russia January 12, 2022. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with government members via a video link in Moscow, Russia January 12, 2022. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS
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Putin to Host Iranian President Next Week for Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with government members via a video link in Moscow, Russia January 12, 2022. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with government members via a video link in Moscow, Russia January 12, 2022. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS

President Vladimir Putin will host his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi for talks in Moscow next week as Russia tries to help salvage a nuclear deal between world powers and Tehran, state television channel Rossiya-1 reported on Sunday.

Rossiya-1 did not disclose when precisely the meeting between the two leaders would take place, nor the issues they would discuss.

Russia is taking part in talks to revive a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and the European Union - that lifted some sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the deal in 2018, a year after he became US president. Iran later breached many of the deal's nuclear restrictions and kept pushing beyond them.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that progress had been made in the talks to revive the deal.



German Christmas Market Attacker Asked about Whereabouts of Saudi Ambassador

People mourn at the mourning site in front of St. John's Church following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 22 December 2024.  EPA/FILIP SINGER
People mourn at the mourning site in front of St. John's Church following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 22 December 2024. EPA/FILIP SINGER
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German Christmas Market Attacker Asked about Whereabouts of Saudi Ambassador

People mourn at the mourning site in front of St. John's Church following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 22 December 2024.  EPA/FILIP SINGER
People mourn at the mourning site in front of St. John's Church following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 22 December 2024. EPA/FILIP SINGER

The perpetrator who drove a car at speed through a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg, Germany, has reportedly offered a reward in return for information about the whereabouts of the Saudi ambassador to Germany, a source told Independent Arabia on Sunday.
The source said that the attacker, Taleb al-Abd al-Mohsen, had offered a SAR 10,000 (equivalent to 2662 euros) in reward for anyone who provides information pertaining to the residence of the Saudi ambassador to Germany, and the timing of his presence.
The Saudi embassy had informed the German authorities about the threat, said the source but the latter “did not take the matter seriously”, he stated.
On Friday, Taleb al-Abd al-Mohsen drove a car at speed through a Christmas market in Germany, killing four women ranging in age from 45 to 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy and injuring 200, including 41 in serious condition.
The police apprehended the perpetrator at the scene of the attack. He is a doctor who had fled Saudi Arabia, where he was wanted on criminal charges. He had been residing in Germany for two decades.
Saudi Arabia condemned the ramming attack and expressed solidarity with the people of Germany.
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had warned the German authorities about the suspect who appears to have been an active user of the social media platform X, sharing extremist tweets and retweets daily.
In 2023 and 2024, Germany received warnings about the man from Saudi authorities, a German source affirmed.