Iran Says it Responded to EU Proposal Aimed at Salvaging Nuclear Deal

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani listens to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, June 23, 2022. (AP)
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani listens to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, June 23, 2022. (AP)
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Iran Says it Responded to EU Proposal Aimed at Salvaging Nuclear Deal

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani listens to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, June 23, 2022. (AP)
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani listens to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, June 23, 2022. (AP)

Iran has responded to top European Union diplomat Josep Borrell's proposal aimed at salvaging Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, and seeks a swift conclusion to negotiations, the top Iranian nuclear negotiator said on Sunday.

"We shared our proposed ideas, both on substance & form, to pave the way for a swift conclusion of Vienna negotiations," Ali Bagheri Kani tweeted, without giving any more details on Iran's position.

"As Iran, we stand ready to conclude the negotiations in a short order, should the other side be ready to do the same."

On Tuesday, Borrell said he had proposed a new draft text to revive the accord under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.

Then-US President Donald Trump reneged on the deal in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions, prompting Iran to violate the deal's nuclear limits.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action deal aimed to make it harder for Iran to amass the fissile material for a nuclear weapon, an ambition Iran has long denied, saying its atomic program was for peaceful purposes.

On Tuesday, the State Department said it was reviewing Borrell's proposal and would respond to the EU.



Iran Says Head of Iran's Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Killed by Israeli Attack, Khamenei Vows Revenge

Iran Says Head of Iran's Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Killed by Israeli Attack, Khamenei Vows Revenge
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Iran Says Head of Iran's Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Killed by Israeli Attack, Khamenei Vows Revenge

Iran Says Head of Iran's Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Killed by Israeli Attack, Khamenei Vows Revenge

Iran state TV said early on Friday that Israel has killed Iran's Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami in Israeli strikes.

It also reported the death of nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi.

For his part, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Friday that Israel will face a “severe punishment” over its attack on the country.
Khamenei issued a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. It confirmed that top military officials and scientists had been killed in the attack.

Israel “opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to a crime in our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers,” Khamenei said.

Also, Iranian armed forces spokesperson Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi told state TV that Israel carried out attacks against Iran with US support, affirming that both Israel and the United States will pay a "heavy price." 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's attack on Iran would "continue for as many days as it takes" after Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites.

"This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat," Netanyahu said in a video statement, naming the operation "Rising Lion".

"We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment facility at Natanz... We also struck at the heart of Iran's ballistic missile programme," he said, adding that Israel had also hit Iranian nuclear scientists "working on the Iranian bomb".