Tehran Defends Its Second Response to EU Draft Proposal

The price of the dollar crossed the barrier of 300,000 riyals in the free currency market in Tehran yesterday (Archives - EPA)
The price of the dollar crossed the barrier of 300,000 riyals in the free currency market in Tehran yesterday (Archives - EPA)
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Tehran Defends Its Second Response to EU Draft Proposal

The price of the dollar crossed the barrier of 300,000 riyals in the free currency market in Tehran yesterday (Archives - EPA)
The price of the dollar crossed the barrier of 300,000 riyals in the free currency market in Tehran yesterday (Archives - EPA)

Tehran, for the second time since the EU presented its draft for reviving the Iran nuclear deal, has given a response to Western parties. Iranian officials are defending the context of Iran’s response at a time when supporters of a deal warn that the diplomatic window that has been open since 2021 could close.

Iran had sent a second response through the EU Coordinator Enrique Mora, following the US introducing amendments to the EU proposed draft.

Iranian state media said the response was “in writing,” and that “the text sent has a positive approach with the aim of completing the negotiations.”

In a Friday statement, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that the country’s top diplomat, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, had reviewed the latest developments in negotiations with his Omani counterpart, Badr al Busaidi.

Abdollahian emphasized Iran’s will to achieve a good, strong, and sustainable agreement.

“In the process of preparing the response of Iran, speeding up and facilitating the conclusion of negotiations has been considered,” the Iranian chief diplomat said.

The state-run ISNA news agency had quoted the last statement made by Abdollahian hours earlier, during a brief comment on Tehran's response to Washington.

“I openly announced that Iran is ready to hold a ministerial meeting to announce the final agreement next week, if the final agreement is reached and the few demands put forward by Iran are met,” said the foreign minister.

Commenting on French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent statements on hopes for reaching an agreement within the coming days, ISNA said that Macron’s statements “come in continuation of Western countries’ efforts to increase pressure on public opinion against Iran to accept an agreement in the Vienna negotiations, without presenting reliable guarantees from other signatories.”



Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Discussion in the West about arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is "absolutely irresponsible", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, in response to a report in the New York Times citing unidentified officials who suggested such a possibility.

The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.

"Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications," the newspaper wrote.

Asked about the report, Peskov told reporters: "These are absolutely irresponsible arguments of people who have a poor understanding of reality and who do not feel a shred of responsibility when making such statements. We also note that all of these statements are anonymous."

Earlier, senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said that if the West supplied nuclear weapons to Ukraine then Moscow could consider such a transfer to be tantamount to an attack on Russia, providing grounds for a nuclear response.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last month that as Ukraine had handed over the nuclear weapons, joining NATO was the only way it could deter Russia.

The 33-month Russia-Ukraine war saw escalations on both sides last week, after Ukraine fired US and British missiles into Russia for the first time, with permission from the West, and Moscow responded by launching a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile into Ukraine.

Asked about the risk of a nuclear escalation, Peskov said the West should "listen carefully" to Putin and read Russia's newly updated nuclear doctrine, which lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

Separately, Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said Moscow opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because it needs a "solid and long-term peace" that resolves the core reasons for the crisis.