US National Security Adviser Sullivan Tests Positive for COVID

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
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US National Security Adviser Sullivan Tests Positive for COVID

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, a week before he is due to accompany President Joe Biden to a meeting of the Group of Seven advanced economies, NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

Watson said Sullivan has not been in close contact with Biden, and is asymptomatic.

The White House announced last week that Biden would travel to southern Germany for the G7 summit and continue on to Spain for a NATO summit in late June.

It was not immediately clear whether the positive test would affect Sullivan's travel plans.



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.