Macron Hopeful of Iran Nuclear Deal in Next Few Days

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during a meeting on education at the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France August 25, 2022. Mohammed Badra/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during a meeting on education at the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France August 25, 2022. Mohammed Badra/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Macron Hopeful of Iran Nuclear Deal in Next Few Days

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during a meeting on education at the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France August 25, 2022. Mohammed Badra/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during a meeting on education at the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France August 25, 2022. Mohammed Badra/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

France's president said on Thursday he hoped a deal to revive the Iran nuclear deal would be concluded in the coming days.

"I hope that in the next few days the JCPOA will be concluded," Emmanuel Macron said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as the deal is formally known, in a speech to French ambassadors.

Iran needs stronger guarantees from Washington for the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, its foreign minister said in Moscow on Wednesday, adding that the UN atomic watchdog should drop its "politically motivated probes" of Tehran's nuclear work.

After 16 months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Aug. 8 the EU had laid down a final offer to overcome an impasse for the revival of the agreement.

Iran's top diplomat, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said Tehran was carefully reviewing Washington's response to the text, which was conveyed to Iran last week by the EU as coordinator of the nuclear talks.

"Iran is carefully reviewing the EU-drafted text ... We need stronger guarantees from the other party to have a sustainable deal," Amirabdollahian told a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart in Moscow.



Türkiye Replaces Pro-Kurdish Mayors with State Officials in 2 Cities

Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
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Türkiye Replaces Pro-Kurdish Mayors with State Officials in 2 Cities

Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)

Türkiye stripped two elected pro-Kurdish mayors of their posts in eastern cities on Friday, for convictions on terrorism-related offences, the interior ministry said, temporarily appointing state officials in their places instead.

The local governor replaced mayor Cevdet Konak in Tunceli, while a local administrator was appointed in the place of Ovacik mayor Mustafa Sarigul, the ministry said in a statement, adding these were "temporary measures".
Konak is a member of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, which has 57 seats in the national parliament, and Sarigul is a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Dozens of pro-Kurdish mayors from its predecessor parties have been removed from their posts on similar charges in the past, Reuters reported.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said authorities had deemed that Sarigul's attendance at a funeral was a crime and called the move to appoint a trustee "a theft of the national will", adding his party would stand against the "injustice".
"Removing a mayor who has been elected by the votes of the people for two terms over a funeral he attended 12 years ago has no more jurisdiction than the last struggles of a government on its way out," Ozel said on X.
Earlier this month, Türkiye replaced three pro-Kurdish mayors in southeastern cities over similar terrorism-related reasons, drawing backlash from the DEM Party and others.
Last month, a mayor from the CHP was arrested after prosecutors accused him of belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), banned as a terrorist group in Türkiye and deemed a terrorist group by the European Union and United States.
The appointment of government trustees followed a surprise proposal by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main ally last month to end the state's 40-year conflict with the PKK.