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Rouhani Says Iran Turned down 23 Requests for Negotiations with US

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. (Reuters)
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. (Reuters)
    London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Rouhani Says Iran Turned down 23 Requests for Negotiations with US

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. (Reuters)
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. (Reuters)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that he turned down around 23 requests for talks after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

Addressing a meeting of Iranian officials, he said that over the past two years and three months he received 23 requests to meet US officials.

"We did not hesitate to negotiate, but we are not looking for a show," he added, reported IRNA.

Lifting the sanctions is not a precondition but a reality, the president said, adding that they are putting pressure on the Iranian people, not just the government, describing the sanctions as “economic terrorism.”

Rouhani revealed that he received eight requests while attending the UN General Assembly meetings in September 2017. The requests only increased in 2018.

Separately, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry Abbas Mousavi said the US will fail in extending the arms embargo against Iran.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is leading a US drive to persuade the UN Security Council to extend the embargo due to expire in mid-October under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal from which the United States withdrew in 2018.

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World

Iran Executes Two Linked to Opposition Group

Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
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Iran Executes Two Linked to Opposition Group

Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP

Iran on Saturday executed two men it said were convicted of links to an opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of ‌Iran, and ‌of carrying out armed ‌attacks, ⁠domestic media reported.

The ⁠executions were the latest in recent days of individuals with PMOI links.

The PMOI confirmed ⁠Saturday's executions, saying ‌in ‌a statement that Iran was "trying ‌to hide its ‌weakness by executing political prisoners, especially PMOI members and supporters." Four PMOI ‌members were executed earlier this week, ⁠it ⁠said.

The group said the two men executed on Saturday were arrested in January 2024 and had their death sentences upheld in December 2025.

World

Earthquake Kills 8 Members of Same Family near Afghan Capital

Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)
Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)
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Earthquake Kills 8 Members of Same Family near Afghan Capital

Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)
Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)

An earthquake that struck Afghanistan overnight killed eight members of the same family in Kabul province, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 8.42 pm (1612 GMT) on Friday at a depth of 186 kilometers (115 miles) at the epicenter in northeastern Badakhshan province, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Shaking was felt in multiple parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, according to AFP journalists.

"In the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, eight members of a family died as a result of the earthquake," Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said in a message to media.

He added that a child aged around two years old was the only survivor from the household and the country's disaster management agency said the boy had been injured in the tremor.

Afghanistan is frequently jolted by earthquakes, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

In August, a shallow magnitude 6 earthquake wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan, making it the deadliest tremor in the country's recent history.

World

Ukrainian Drone and Missile Attack Kills at Least One in Southern Russia

Rescue workers try to put out a fire caused by the fragments of a Russian drone that hit a private house during air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Rescue workers try to put out a fire caused by the fragments of a Russian drone that hit a private house during air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
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Ukrainian Drone and Missile Attack Kills at Least One in Southern Russia

Rescue workers try to put out a fire caused by the fragments of a Russian drone that hit a private house during air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Rescue workers try to put out a fire caused by the fragments of a Russian drone that hit a private house during air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

A Ukrainian drone and missile attack on southern Russia killed at least one person, injured four others, and sparked a blaze aboard a foreign-flagged vessel, Russian officials said on Saturday.

Earlier, Yuri Slyusar, ‌governor of ‌the Rostov region, ‌said ⁠that one person was ⁠killed and four seriously injured in an air attack by Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Commercial infrastructure was also damaged during the missile attack on ⁠the city of Taganrog. ‌

A ‌fire broke out in the warehouse ‌premises of a logistics ‌company, and a commercial vessel was damaged and a fire broke out ‌as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack ⁠in ⁠the Sea of Azov, Slyusar said.
Samara Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said the Russian city of Togliatti was attacked by Ukrainian drones . It was not clear what was hit. Ukraine has previously targeted the TogliattiAzot chemical fertilizer producer.