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Iran: News Emerge about Shamkhani Taking over Nuclear Talks amid Foreign Ministry’s Silence

The late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Shamkhani during a government meeting (Mehr)
The late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Shamkhani during a government meeting (Mehr)
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Iran: News Emerge about Shamkhani Taking over Nuclear Talks amid Foreign Ministry’s Silence

The late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Shamkhani during a government meeting (Mehr)
The late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Shamkhani during a government meeting (Mehr)

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani remained silent regarding reports that Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to the Iranian leader, was assigned to supervise indirect talks between Washington and Tehran with the aim of reviving the nuclear agreement.
Unofficial reports stated that Shamkhani took over the management of the nuclear file at the beginning of March. The Iranian official supervised the nuclear talks conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the tenure of former President Hassan Rouhani, when he served as Secretary General of the Supreme National Security Council for 10 years.
Speaking to reporters in Tehran, Kanaani said: “I don’t have any specific points to clarify regarding indirect allegations on social media,” adding: “Negotiations are continuing under the supervision of senior officials.”
The Rouydad 24 website stated that the nuclear negotiations and the development of related policies were assigned to the Supreme National Security Council at the start of Raisi’s tenure, in accordance with a decision to separate tasks among the Iranian agencies. Ali Bagheri Kani, the current acting Foreign Minister, has led the nuclear negotiating team
News of Shamkhani’s appointment comes after the Axios news website reported that indirect negotiations took place on May 18 between Iranian and US officials in Muscat.
The website quoted informed sources as saying that the round of talks was the first since January, and was attended by Brett McGurk, advisor to the US President for Middle East affairs, and Abram Paley, the US special envoy to Iran.
The website, however, did not reveal the identity of the Iranian officials who participated in “the talks that addressed US concerns about the status of the Iranian nuclear program.”

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World

WHO Warns of More Hantavirus Cases in 'Limited' Outbreak

Test tubes labelled "Hantavirus positive" in this illustration taken May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Test tubes labelled "Hantavirus positive" in this illustration taken May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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WHO Warns of More Hantavirus Cases in 'Limited' Outbreak

Test tubes labelled "Hantavirus positive" in this illustration taken May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Test tubes labelled "Hantavirus positive" in this illustration taken May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

The World Health Organization said Thursday that more hantavirus cases could emerge after the disease killed three passengers from a cruise ship, but it expected the outbreak to be limited if precautions were taken.

Another sick passenger from the MV Hondius landed in Europe earlier in the day, as the vessel headed to the Spanish Canary Islands and health officials scrambled to map the outbreak of the potentially deadly human-to-human strain, said AFP.

The fate of the Hondius sparked international alarm after three people travelling on it died, though health officials have played down fears of a wider global outbreak from the rat-borne virus, which is less contagious than Covid-19.

A Dutch couple who had travelled around South America before boarding the ship in Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 were the first fatalities.

Argentine health authorities said Thursday they had not yet been able to establish where the outbreak began.

"With the information provided so far by the countries involved and participating national agencies, it is not possible to confirm the origin of the infection," the health ministry said after a meeting with authorities from all 24 Argentine provinces.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in Geneva that five confirmed and three suspected cases had been reported overall, including the three deaths.

"Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it's possible that more cases may be reported," he said, referring to the rare strain detected aboard the Hondius, which can be transmitted between humans.

The Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands later announced another patient had tested positive.

But the WHO's emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud said he believed it would be "a limited outbreak" if "public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries."

People thought or known to have contracted the virus are being treated or isolating in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and South Africa.

- Rare disease -

Hantavirus is a rare respiratory disease that is usually spread from infected rodents and can cause respiratory and cardiac distress as well as haemorrhagic fevers. There are no vaccines and no known cure.

A passenger is thought to have contracted the virus before boarding the ship in Argentina and infected others on board as it sailed across the Atlantic.

Officials in Argentina said they planned to test rodents in the coastal city of Ushuaia, from where the ship had set sail on April 1.

Three evacuees were whisked away from the ship on Wednesday when it anchored off Cape Verde and a fourth landed in Amsterdam on Thursday, according to the vessel's operator, Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions.

The company said there were no symptomatic individuals on board as the ship sails toward the Spanish island of Tenerife, where it is scheduled to arrive on Sunday.

- First case -

A Dutch man who had boarded in Ushuaia along with his wife died aboard the ship on April 11.

The man's body was taken off the ship on April 24 in Saint Helena, an island in the south Atlantic where 29 other passengers disembarked, the ship's operator said.

It said it was working to trace all passengers and crew who got on or off the ship since March 20.

Tedros said the WHO had informed 12 countries that their nationals disembarked from the cruise ship on Saint Helena.

The Saint Helena government said "more than 95 percent" of the population had no close contact with the ship's passengers or crew, or boarded the vessel, and are currently "at an extremely low risk of infection".

The deceased man's wife, who left the ship to accompany his body to South Africa, died in that country 15 days later after also falling ill, with hantavirus confirmed as the cause on May 4.

The couple had visited Chile and Uruguay as well as Argentina, officials in Buenos Aires said.

Chile's health ministry said the couple were not infected in that country as they travelled there at "a period that does not correspond to the incubation time".

According to the WHO, the incubation period for hantavirus can be up to six weeks.

The Dutch woman flew on a commercial plane from Saint Helena to Johannesburg while she was showing symptoms.

Officials were trying to trace people on that flight, which South African-based carrier Airlink said was carrying 82 passengers and six crew.

A German passenger died on May 2. Her body remains on the ship.

World

Tornadoes Cut Across Mississippi as Severe Storms Damage 500 Homes

In this frame grab from video taken by WDAM, damaged trees and a house or structure following a storm that tore through part of Lamar County, Mississippi, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (WDAM via AP)
In this frame grab from video taken by WDAM, damaged trees and a house or structure following a storm that tore through part of Lamar County, Mississippi, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (WDAM via AP)
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Tornadoes Cut Across Mississippi as Severe Storms Damage 500 Homes

In this frame grab from video taken by WDAM, damaged trees and a house or structure following a storm that tore through part of Lamar County, Mississippi, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (WDAM via AP)
In this frame grab from video taken by WDAM, damaged trees and a house or structure following a storm that tore through part of Lamar County, Mississippi, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (WDAM via AP)

Powerful storms that spawned at least three tornadoes tore through several Mississippi counties, damaging around 500 homes, uprooting trees and injuring at least 17 people, authorities said Thursday.

There were no reports of deaths after the tornadoes cut across the state's southwest late Wednesday evening, said Scott Simmons, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

He said 12 of those hurt were transported from a hard-hit trailer park in the small community of Bogue Chitto, about an hour's drive south of the state capital in rural Lincoln County.

Most of the two dozen homes at Gene’s Mobile Home Supply were flattened into heaps of splintered boards and twisted metal. People picked through the debris Thursday morning under cloudy skies as a chain saw buzzed in the background, The Associated Press reported.

Emergency Management Agency was coordinating response efforts.

Many roads were still blocked in Lincoln County and teams from the agency were assessing the damage.

“We ask that you please refrain from sightseeing as crews are working,” the department posted early Thursday.

The governor said a volunteer rescue group was providing a 50-person shelter pod, a high-powered generator and 10 pallets of supplies to the county, which reported at least 200 damaged homes.

Lamar County to the southeast reported about 275 homes damaged, according to the state emergency management agency. Another 10 to 12 homes were damaged in Lawrence County.

More storms were expected Thursday with the possibility of tornadoes across parts of Alabama, Georgia and Florida, the weather service said. Strong storms also were possible for parts of the Carolinas and Texas.

World

Iran Reviewing US Proposal as Trump Pressures Tehran for Agreement on Deal to End War

US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Iran Reviewing US Proposal as Trump Pressures Tehran for Agreement on Deal to End War

US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Iran said it was reviewing the latest American proposals to end the war after US President Donald Trump threatened the country with a new wave of bombing unless a deal is reached that includes reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.

Hope that the two-month conflict could soon be over buoyed international markets Thursday, a day after the US military fired on an Iranian oil tanker attempting to breach the American blockade of Iran’s ports. The developments followed days of mixed messages from the Trump administration over its strategy to end the war, according to The AP news.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed peace efforts in the Middle East at the Vatican. Rubio met with Pope Leo XIV, whose opposition to the Iran war has led to open sparring with Trump.

Trump posted on social media Wednesday that ending the war and resuming oil and natural gas shipments disrupted by the conflict depends on Iran accepting an agreement, which he did not detail.

“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts,” Trump wrote.

A fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran has largely held since April 8. But in-person talks between the two countries hosted by Pakistan last month failed to reach an agreement. The war began Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran.

Pakistan says it expects a deal soon “We expect an agreement sooner rather than later,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Thursday.

“We hope the parties will reach a peaceful and sustainable solution that will contribute not only to peace in our region but to international peace as well.” But he declined to give a timeline, saying Pakistan would not disclose details of the ongoing diplomatic efforts.

Asked whether Pakistan was expecting any response from Iran later Thursday, Andrabi said: “I will not comment on specifics or the movement of the messages.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, speaking in televised remarks, said Islamabad remained in “continuous contact with Iran and the United States, day and night, to stop the war and extend the ceasefire.”