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Iran Says Its Right to Uranium Enrichment Is Non-Negotiable 

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks as he meets with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Baghdad, Iraq October 13, 2024. (Reuters)
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks as he meets with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Baghdad, Iraq October 13, 2024. (Reuters)
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Iran Says Its Right to Uranium Enrichment Is Non-Negotiable 

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks as he meets with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Baghdad, Iraq October 13, 2024. (Reuters)
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks as he meets with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Baghdad, Iraq October 13, 2024. (Reuters)

Iran's right to enrich uranium is not negotiable, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday, ahead of a second round of talks in Oman this weekend with the United States about Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

Araqchi was responding to a comment made on Tuesday by the US top negotiator Steve Witkoff, who said Tehran must "stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment" to reach a deal with Washington.

"We have heard contradictory statements from Witkoff, but real positions will be made clear at the negotiating table," Araqchi said.

"We are ready to build trust regarding possible concerns over Iran's enrichment (of uranium), but the principle of enrichment is not negotiable."

Iran and the US are due to hold a second round of talks in Oman on Saturday over Tehran's escalating nuclear program, with President Donald Trump threatening military action if there is no deal.

Before the talks, Araqchi will deliver a message from Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to Russian President Vladimir Putin on a trip to Russia, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday.

The Kremlin on Tuesday declined to comment when asked if Russia was ready to take control of Iran's stocks of enriched uranium as part of a possible future nuclear deal between Iran and the United States.

The Guardian reported that Tehran was expected to reject a US proposal to transfer its stockpile of enriched uranium to a third country such as Russia as part of an agreement that Washington is seeking to scale back Iran's nuclear program.

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World

Türkiye Releases Arrested May 1 Protesters

01 May 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Police detain a protester during the May Day demonstrations to mark International Workers' Day. (dpa)
01 May 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Police detain a protester during the May Day demonstrations to mark International Workers' Day. (dpa)
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Türkiye Releases Arrested May 1 Protesters

01 May 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Police detain a protester during the May Day demonstrations to mark International Workers' Day. (dpa)
01 May 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Police detain a protester during the May Day demonstrations to mark International Workers' Day. (dpa)

Turkish authorities have released more than 500 protesters arrested at May Day rallies in Istanbul, a lawyers' association said Saturday.

Police cracked down on Friday's demonstrations, firing tear gas to break them up and arresting hundreds of people.

All 576 people arrested were released by Saturday morning, including union official Basaran Aksu, the lawyers' association CHD said on X.

The association's Istanbul branch had deployed members into the city's streets to document arrests and aid those detained.

The Istanbul governor's office put the number of arrests at 575.

Another 47 people were arrested on April 28 ahead of the planned May Day rallies, of whom four have been placed in custody and nine on house arrest, CHD said.

The demonstrations were concentrated around Taksim Square, which the authorities have closed to rallies since a massive wave of anti-government protests in 2013.

Aksu had condemned the authorities for imposing a lockdown on the square, a symbolic site often used for mass gatherings in Türkiye.

"You can't close off a square to the workers of Türkiye," he said just before his arrest.

"Everyone uses Taksim, for official ceremonies, for celebrations. Only the laborers, the workers, the poor find the square closed to them."

May Day, which celebrates workers and the working classes, sees a major police deployment in Türkiye every year, with a large area in the heart of Istanbul sealed off.

Unions and civil society associations had called for the May 1 rallies under the slogan "Bread. Peace. Freedom."

World

Germany Urges Stronger European Defense After US Reduces Troops

A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the Ramstein Air Base, headquarter of the US Air Forces in Europe, near Landstuhl, Germany, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the Ramstein Air Base, headquarter of the US Air Forces in Europe, near Landstuhl, Germany, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
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Germany Urges Stronger European Defense After US Reduces Troops

A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the Ramstein Air Base, headquarter of the US Air Forces in Europe, near Landstuhl, Germany, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the Ramstein Air Base, headquarter of the US Air Forces in Europe, near Landstuhl, Germany, 09 March 2026. (EPA)

A planned drawdown of US troops from Germany should spur Europeans to strengthen their own defenses further, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday, following the latest salvo from Washington against transatlantic ties. 

The Pentagon announced on Friday that the United States would withdraw 5,000 soldiers from Germany, its largest European base, as a rift over the Iran war and tariff tensions place further strain on relations between the US and Europe. 

Pistorius said the ‌move was expected. 

Trump ‌had threatened a drawdown in forces earlier this ‌week after ⁠sparring with German ⁠Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has questioned Washington's strategy in the Middle East. 

GERMANY BOOSTING TROOPS, MILITARY INFRASTRUCTURE 

Pistorius said the partial withdrawal would affect a current US presence of almost 40,000 soldiers stationed in Germany. Other estimates put the active-duty troop presence at 35,000. 

"We Europeans must take on more responsibility for our own security," Pistorius said, adding, "Germany is on the right track" by ⁠expanding its armed forces, speeding up military procurement and ‌building infrastructure. 

Germany wants to boost the ‌number of active-duty Bundeswehr soldiers from a current 185,000 to 260,000, though critics of the ‌defense minister have called for more in response to a widely ‌perceived growing threat from Russia. 

NATO members have pledged to take on more responsibility for their own defense but with tight budgets and vast gaps in military capability it will take years for the region to meet its own security needs. 

LONG-RANGE ‌FIRE BATTALION CANCELLED 

The US military presence in Germany, which began as an occupation force after World War ⁠Two, peaked during ⁠the 1960s when hundreds of thousands of American military personnel were stationed there to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War. 

The US presence includes the giant Ramstein airbase and Landstuhl hospital, both of which have been used by the US to support its war in Iran, as well as previous conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The Pentagon decision means one full brigade will leave Germany and a long-range fires battalion that was due to be deployed later this year will be cancelled. 

The loss of the long-range fires will be a particular blow to Berlin, as it had been due to form a significant extra element of deterrence against Russia while Europeans developed such long-range missiles themselves. 

World

Nobel Laureate Mohammadi in Iran Hospital After ‘Cardiac Crisis’, Foundation Says

A picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on the wall of the Grand Hotel in central Oslo before the Nobel banquet, in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, in Oslo, Norway December 10, 2023. (NTB/Javad Parsa via Reuters)
A picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on the wall of the Grand Hotel in central Oslo before the Nobel banquet, in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, in Oslo, Norway December 10, 2023. (NTB/Javad Parsa via Reuters)
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Nobel Laureate Mohammadi in Iran Hospital After ‘Cardiac Crisis’, Foundation Says

A picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on the wall of the Grand Hotel in central Oslo before the Nobel banquet, in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, in Oslo, Norway December 10, 2023. (NTB/Javad Parsa via Reuters)
A picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on the wall of the Grand Hotel in central Oslo before the Nobel banquet, in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, in Oslo, Norway December 10, 2023. (NTB/Javad Parsa via Reuters)

Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi was in an Iranian hospital after a "catastrophic deterioration of her health," including a "cardiac crisis", a foundation run by her family said.

The secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awarded Mohammadi the 2023 prize, expressed concern on Thursday that the condition of the Iranian human rights activist was worsening after she had suffered a heart attack in prison.

Mohammadi, in her 50s, won the prize while in prison for her campaign to advance women's rights and abolish the ‌death penalty in ‌Iran.

The activist "was urgently transferred to a hospital ‌in Zanjan ⁠today following a ⁠catastrophic deterioration of her health, including two episodes of complete loss of consciousness and a severe cardiac crisis," the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said in a statement on its website on Friday.

"This transfer was done as an unavoidable necessity after prison doctors determined her condition could not be managed on-site, despite standing medical recommendations that ⁠she be treated by her specialized team in ‌Tehran."

Reuters could not immediately confirm the ‌statement, which said her transfer was a “desperate, last-minute” measure that might come ‌too late to address her critical health needs.

Mohammadi was sentenced ‌to a new prison term of 7-1/2 years, the foundation said in February, weeks before the US and Israel launched their war against Iran. The Nobel committee at the time called on Tehran to free ‌her immediately.

She was arrested in December after denouncing the death of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi. Prosecutor Hasan ⁠Hematifar told reporters ⁠then she made provocative remarks at Alikordi's memorial ceremony in the northeastern city of Mashhad and encouraged those present "to chant norm-breaking slogans" and "disturb the peace".

On Friday morning, Mohammadi fainted after days of dangerously high blood pressure and severe nausea, the foundation said. After multiple bouts of vomiting, she blacked out and was moved to the prison medical unit for emergency intravenous fluids.

The activist, who has undergone three angioplasty procedures, faces a "direct and immediate" threat to her right to life, her family said. “We call for all charges to be dropped immediately and for all sentences imposed for her peaceful human rights work to be unconditionally annulled.”