Iran Urges ‘Realistic’ US Response to Revive Nuclear Deal

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a joint news briefing with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a joint news briefing with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (AP)
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Iran Urges ‘Realistic’ US Response to Revive Nuclear Deal

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a joint news briefing with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a joint news briefing with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (AP)

Iran's foreign minister called on Saturday for a "realistic response" from the United States to Iranian proposals at indirect talks in Vienna aimed at reviving Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, state media reported.

The comments came as talks continued for a third day on Saturday with few expecting a breakthrough compromise while Tehran's disputed uranium enrichment program surges forward.

"Hossein Amirabdollahian... stressed the need for a realistic US response to Iran's constructive proposals on various issues to make the deal work," state media reported, without providing details on the proposals.

Little remains of the 2015 pact between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, which lifted sanctions against Tehran in exchange for curbs on Iranian enrichment activity the West fears could yield atomic bombs.

In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump ditched the deal and reimposed harsh sanctions. In response, Tehran - which says its nuclear program is for power generation and other peaceful purposes - breached the agreement in several ways including rebuilding stocks of enriched uranium.

Iranian media suggested a sticking point in the talks to revive the pact may be over Iran's refusal to address alleged unexplained uranium traces as demanded by the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA), with Tehran insisting that the nuclear deal had cleared its nuclear program of alleged possible military dimensions.

In June, the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors passed a resolution criticizing Iran for failing to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites. But a senior Iranian presidential aide said Tehran demanded the issue be closed before it would agree to resume compliance with the pact.

Claims, demands

"In all of (President Ebrahim) Raisi's telephone calls with the presidents of France, Russia and China, his firm position has been that a final agreement could be reached only when safeguards claims were resolved and closed," state media on Saturday quoted the deputy head of Raisi's office as saying.

The European parties to the deal on Friday urged Iran "not to make unrealistic demands outside the scope of the JCPoA (nuclear deal), including on IAEA safeguards”.

"The text is on the table. There will be no re-opening of negotiations. Iran must now decide to conclude the deal while this is still possible," a European statement said.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington restarted in Vienna on Thursday with a meeting between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and European Union coordinator Enrique Mora.

Reuters, citing one Iranian and one European official, reported in June that Tehran had dropped a major stumbling block - its demand for the removal of its Revolutionary Guards from a US sanctions list.

A senior Iranian official suggested that the issue might not be a sticking point anymore, telling Reuters on Thursday: "We have our own suggestions that will be discussed in the Vienna talks, such as lifting sanctions on the Guards gradually."



54 Migrants Rescued from Mediterranean Oil Platform

FILED - 31 May 2025, France, Gravelines: A group of people thought to be migrants onboard a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines, France, attempting to reach the UK by crossing the English Channel. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa
FILED - 31 May 2025, France, Gravelines: A group of people thought to be migrants onboard a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines, France, attempting to reach the UK by crossing the English Channel. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa
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54 Migrants Rescued from Mediterranean Oil Platform

FILED - 31 May 2025, France, Gravelines: A group of people thought to be migrants onboard a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines, France, attempting to reach the UK by crossing the English Channel. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa
FILED - 31 May 2025, France, Gravelines: A group of people thought to be migrants onboard a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines, France, attempting to reach the UK by crossing the English Channel. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa

Over 50 migrants were headed to the Italian island of Lampedusa Sunday after a charity ship rescued them from an abandoned oil platform in the Mediterranean, where one woman gave birth.

The vessel Astral, operated by the Spain-based NGO Open Arms, rescued the 54 people overnight, the group said in a statement.

The migrants had been trapped on the oil platform for three days after their rubber boat shipwrecked following their departure from Libya on Tuesday, Open Arms said.

On Friday, one of the migrants gave birth to a boy, while another woman had given birth days before. Two other young children were among the group, Open Arms said, according to AFP.

Later Sunday, the charity said that, following the rescue of those on the oil platform, the Astral came upon another 109 people, including four people in the water.

That group, which included 10 children, had also departed from Libya, it said.
Open Arms said they provided life jackets to the migrants before they were rescued by another charity ship, the Louise Michel, which is sponsored by street artist Banksy.

The Louise Michel, a former French navy vessel, was transporting the migrants to a safe port in Sicily, Open Arms said.

It is not unusual for migrants crossing the Mediterranean on leaky and overcrowded boats to seek refuge on offshore oil platforms.

As of June 1, some 23,000 migrants had reached Italy by sea this year, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).