‘Decisive’ Moment Nears on Iran Nuclear Talks, Says Blinken

‘Decisive’ Moment Nears on Iran Nuclear Talks, Says Blinken
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‘Decisive’ Moment Nears on Iran Nuclear Talks, Says Blinken

‘Decisive’ Moment Nears on Iran Nuclear Talks, Says Blinken

The United States and its European allies said on Thursday that it was now just a matter of weeks to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal.

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the nuclear deal resumed almost two months ago.

Western diplomats have previously indicated they were hoping to have a breakthrough over the next few weeks, but sharp differences remain with the toughest issues still unresolved.

Iran has rejected any deadline imposed by Western powers.

Diplomats and analysts say the longer Iran remains outside the deal, the more nuclear expertise it will gain, shortening the time it might need to race to build a bomb if it chose to, thereby undermining the accord's original purpose.

"We are indeed at a decisive moment," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference after meeting French, German and British ministers in Berlin.

"There is real urgency and it's really now a matter of weeks, where we determine whether or not we can return to mutual compliance with the agreement."

The eighth round of talks, the first under Iran's new hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, resumed on Dec. 27 after adding some new Iranian demands to a working text.

Western states have repeatedly said that time was running out without setting a deadline for the end of talks.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock again said the window of opportunity was closing.

"The negotiations have now entered a decisive phase. We need to make very, very urgent progress here, otherwise we will not be able to reach an agreement together that will bring sufficient added value to the central issue of non-proliferation," she said.



Maduro Opponents Take to Streets to Revive Protests Disputing Venezuelan Election Results

A woman holds electoral records on a board during a rally called by the opposition in Caracas on August 28, 2024. (AFP)
A woman holds electoral records on a board during a rally called by the opposition in Caracas on August 28, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Maduro Opponents Take to Streets to Revive Protests Disputing Venezuelan Election Results

A woman holds electoral records on a board during a rally called by the opposition in Caracas on August 28, 2024. (AFP)
A woman holds electoral records on a board during a rally called by the opposition in Caracas on August 28, 2024. (AFP)

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro took to the streets Wednesday in an attempt to revive protests against him as he tightens his grip on power following last month's disputed election.

The demonstrations in the capital, Caracas, come exactly a month after the fraught July 28 vote in which Maduro was declared the winner despite strong evidence that opposition candidate Edmundo González won by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, which drew international condemnation that the vote lacked transparency.

In weeks of on-again, off-again demonstrations, the opposition's rallying cry has been constant but so far ineffective. Opponents have demanded that election officials publish results from each polling station that they say would expose Maduro's attempts to steal the election.

“Voting records kill sentence,” is how the opposition billed the latest protest, referring to the thousands of tally sheets it collected and posted online that contradict a recent sentence written by the loyalist Supreme Court certifying Maduro's purported victory.

Not to be outdone, Maduro's supporters also planned to hold rallies Wednesday, vowing to “defend” Maduro's victory against what they claim is an attempt to sow unrest throughout the South American country.

Amid the ongoing crisis, Maduro has leaned heavily on security forces to preserve his power. On Tuesday, he appointed a hard-line ruling party boss as interior minister, with oversight of police forces. Diosdado Cabello has vowed to show no mercy against government opponents.

Cabello's appointment stoked fears that a crackdown that has already led to more than 2,000 arrests — of journalists, politicians and students — is likely to intensify.

The wave of arrests featured prominently at a special meeting Wednesday of the Organization of American States in Washington to discuss a report on human rights violations by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“The commission condemns unequivocally practices of institutional violence in the context of the electoral process in Venezuela,” Roberta Clarke, a lawyer from Barbados and member of the commission, said at the meeting. “Democracy and the rule of law must be restored.”

The commission called on Venezuelan authorities to cease all actions that “generate terror” in the population — including arbitrary detentions and the use of violence by non-state actors loyal to Maduro — and respect the popular will of Venezuelans for democratic change.