Japan Offers Iran Assistance to Complete Nuclear Negotiations

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian with a group of legislators (Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian with a group of legislators (Foreign Ministry)
TT

Japan Offers Iran Assistance to Complete Nuclear Negotiations

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian with a group of legislators (Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian with a group of legislators (Foreign Ministry)

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi offered his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, help to push through the stalled talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that Amir-Abdollahian discussed bilateral ties and regional and international developments over the phone with his Japanese counterpart.

They also discussed the indirect talks between Tehran and Washington with the aim of a joint return to the nuclear agreement.

The Japanese foreign minister expressed his country's readiness to support the Vienna negotiations, noting Tokyo's satisfaction with the "positive" cooperation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Last month, the IAEA said Iran had given sweeping assurances that it would finally cooperate in a long-stalled investigation into uranium particles found at undeclared sites and reinstall removed monitoring equipment.

Amir-Abdollahian said Iran considers diplomacy and negotiation a way out of regional and global challenges, calling to expand cooperation between Tehran and Tokyo.

He reaffirmed Iran's principled stance on the Ukraine crisis and Tehran's opposition to the war.

Japan failed to mediate between the US and Iran to reduce tensions after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018.

Several negotiations failed to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

The agreement imposed restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for lifting international sanctions. Tehran gradually violated the regulations of its nuclear program under the deal.

Since last September, indirect talks have stopped between Tehran and the administration of US President Joe Biden to revive the agreement.

Israel has recently intensified its threats to take military action against Tehran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons. Tehran denies it aims to develop atomic weapons.

Last month, press reports stated that Israel had informed the US administration and several European countries that it might launch a military strike against Iran if it enriched uranium above 60 percent.



Bus Carrying Pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq Crashes in Iran, At Least 28 Dead

Iranians drive past Iranian and Palestinian national flags hanging on buildings at Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Iranians drive past Iranian and Palestinian national flags hanging on buildings at Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
TT

Bus Carrying Pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq Crashes in Iran, At Least 28 Dead

Iranians drive past Iranian and Palestinian national flags hanging on buildings at Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Iranians drive past Iranian and Palestinian national flags hanging on buildings at Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

A bus carrying Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq crashed in central Iran, killing at least 28 people, an official said Wednesday.
The crash happened Tuesday night in the central Iranian province of Yazd, said Mohammad Ali Malekzadeh, a local emergency official, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Another 23 people suffered injuries in the crash, 14 of them serious, he added. He said all the bus passengers hailed from Pakistan.
There were 51 people on board at the time of the crash outside of the city of Taft, some 500 kilometers southeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Iranian state television later blamed the crash on the bus brakes failing and a lack of attention by its driver.
A separate bus crash early Wednesday in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province killed six people and injured 18, authorities said.