عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Iran Says It Is Open to Talks but Rejects Pressure as US, EU Impose Sanctions

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi talks to journalists after meeting senior officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France in a hotel in Vienna, Austria, October 19, 2015. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi talks to journalists after meeting senior officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France in a hotel in Vienna, Austria, October 19, 2015. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
TT
TT

Iran Says It Is Open to Talks but Rejects Pressure as US, EU Impose Sanctions

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi talks to journalists after meeting senior officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France in a hotel in Vienna, Austria, October 19, 2015. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi talks to journalists after meeting senior officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France in a hotel in Vienna, Austria, October 19, 2015. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Iran's foreign minister said that Tehran was open to diplomacy to solve disputes but not "threats and pressure", state media reported on Saturday, after the US and three European powers imposed sanctions against the country's aviation sector.

Abbas Araqchi's comments come a day after The European Union's chief diplomat said the bloc is considering new sanctions targeting Iran's aviation sector, in reaction to reports Tehran supplied Russia with ballistic missiles in its war against Ukraine, Reuters reported.

"Iran continues on its own path with strength, although we have always been open to talks to resolve disputes ... but dialogue should be based on mutual respect, not on threats and pressure," Araqchi said, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Araqchi said on Wednesday that Tehran had not delivered any ballistic missiles to Russia and sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and three European powers would not solve any problems between them.

The United States, Germany, Britain and France on Tuesday imposed new sanctions on Iran, including measures against its national airline Iran Air.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Haiti Confirms 24 Killed in ‘Horrible’ Gas Truck Blast

A man crosses a storm drain filled with trash in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A man crosses a storm drain filled with trash in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
TT
TT

Haiti Confirms 24 Killed in ‘Horrible’ Gas Truck Blast

A man crosses a storm drain filled with trash in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A man crosses a storm drain filled with trash in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A fuel truck explosion on a road in Haiti's southern peninsula on Saturday killed 24 people and left half of the 40 injured survivors with third-degree burns, the government said.

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille visited the site, near the coastal city of Miragoane in the department of Nippes, and said some of the most seriously injured victims were evacuated by helicopter to receive specialized care.

Ambulances were also being sent as quickly as possible to attend to others with severe burns and to relieve overcrowded local hospitals.

"It's a horrible scene we've just lived through. Many dozens of victims, wounded, severely burned," Conille said in a video distributed by the government.

The injured were mostly men, as well as three women and a child, according to a report from Haiti's emergency services, which did not give any details about the identities of the dead.

Another 15 people sustained second-degree burns, the report said.

A witness to the incident said the truck's gas tank had been punctured by another vehicle, and people had rushed to the site to collect fuel.

"There were a lot of people. Those who were close to the truck got pulverized," the man, who did not give his name, said in a video interview with local outlet Echo Haiti Media.

A similar incident in 2021 in the city of Cap-Haitien killed at least 60 people, after people were also thought to have been attempting to take fuel from a tanker truck.

Fuel deliveries to the Miragoane area have slowed in recent weeks as trucks were transported via ferry to avoid gang-controlled highways surrounding the capital of Port-au-Prince.

The spread of gangs in the capital and surrounding areas has fueled a humanitarian crisis with mass displacements, sexual violence, child recruitment and widespread hunger. A state of emergency is now in place nationwide.

Haiti's civil protection agency reported the identities of a 31-year-old man and two 23-year-old men who suffered burns over 89% of their bodies, and were being treated in a hospital in Les Cayes, in southern Haiti.