France, Germany, Britain Condemn Iran's Steps to Expand Nuclear Program

The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is displayed at the agency's headquarters on the opening day of a quarterly meeting of its 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, June 3, 2024. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is displayed at the agency's headquarters on the opening day of a quarterly meeting of its 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, June 3, 2024. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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France, Germany, Britain Condemn Iran's Steps to Expand Nuclear Program

The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is displayed at the agency's headquarters on the opening day of a quarterly meeting of its 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, June 3, 2024. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is displayed at the agency's headquarters on the opening day of a quarterly meeting of its 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, June 3, 2024. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

France, Germany and Britain on Saturday condemned Iran’s latest steps, as reported by the IAEA, to further expand its nuclear program.

"Iran has taken further steps in hollowing out the JCPoA, by operating dozens of additional advanced centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment site as well as announcing it will install thousands more centrifuges at both its Fordow and Natanz sites." the joint statement said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed with Iran in 2015.

"This decision is a further escalation of Iran’s nuclear programme, which carries significant proliferation risks," it added, Reuters reported.

The joint statement stressed that "Iran’s decision to substantially increase its production capacity at the underground Fordow facility is especially concerning".

"Iran is legally obliged under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to fully implement its safeguards agreement, which is separate to the JCPoA."



Palestinian Protest Leader Detained by US Misses Son’s Birth 

Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP)
Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP)
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Palestinian Protest Leader Detained by US Misses Son’s Birth 

Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP)
Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP)

Detained pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil missed the birth of his son on Monday after US authorities refused a temporary release, his wife said.

A graduate student at New York's Columbia University who was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza, Khalil was arrested by immigration authorities on March 8.

He was ordered deported even though he was a permanent US resident through his American citizen wife, Noor Abdalla.

Abdalla said that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) denied a request to release Khalil temporarily for the birth of their child.

"This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud and our son suffer," she said in a statement.

"My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud. ICE and the Trump administration have stolen these precious moments from our family in an attempt to silence Mahmoud's support for Palestinian freedom," she said.

She gave birth in New York. Khalil was transferred to the southern state of Louisiana in an apparent bid to find a judge sympathetic to President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

Trump's advisors have accused pro-Palestinian protesters of promoting anti-Semitism and terrorism, charges the activists deny.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked a law approved during the 1950s Red Scare that allows the United States to remove foreigners seen as adverse to US foreign policy.

Rubio argues that US constitutional protections of free speech do not apply to foreigners and that he alone can make decisions without judicial review.

Hundreds of students have seen their visas revoked, with some saying they were targeted for everything from writing opinion articles to minor arrest records.

Immigration authorities last week arrested another Columbia University student active in the protests, Mohsen Mahdawi, as he attended an interview seeking to become a US citizen.