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.



Iran Guards Chief Says Netanyahu ICC Warrant 'Political Death' of Israel

Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami - File/AFP
Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami - File/AFP
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Iran Guards Chief Says Netanyahu ICC Warrant 'Political Death' of Israel

Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami - File/AFP
Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami - File/AFP

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday described the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defense minister as the “end and political death” of Israel, in a speech.
“This means the end and political death of the Zionist regime, a regime that today lives in absolute political isolation in the world and its officials can no longer travel to other countries,” Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami said in the speech aired on state TV.
In the first official reaction by Iran, Salami called the ICC warrant “a welcome move” and a “great victory for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements,” both supported by the Islamic republic, AFP reported.
The court also issued a warrant for the arrest of Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.
The warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant were issued in response to accusations of crimes against humanity and war crimes during Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The ICC’s move theoretically limits the movement of Netanyahu, as any of the court’s 124 national members would be obliged to arrest him on their territory.
The court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan urged the body’s members to act on the warrants, and for non-members to work together in “upholding international law.”