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US Declares South Africa's Ambassador Persona Non Grata

FILE - South Africa's ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
FILE - South Africa's ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
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US Declares South Africa's Ambassador Persona Non Grata

FILE - South Africa's ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
FILE - South Africa's ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday declared Ebrahim Rasool, South Africa's ambassador to the US, persona non grata, calling the envoy a "race-baiting politician" who hates America and President Donald Trump.
"South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country," Rubio said in a post on social media platform X. "We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA," Rubio said.
Rasool presented his credentials to then-President Joe Biden on January 13, a week before Trump took office, marking the start of the envoy's tenure, according to the South African embassy's website. It said this was Rasool's second stint in Washington.
The US State Department and South Africa's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, posted on X that the government "will engage through the diplomatic channel."
Ties between the United States and South Africa have deteriorated since Trump cut US financial aid to the country, citing disapproval of its land policy and of its genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Washington's ally Israel.
Trump has said, without citing evidence, that "South Africa is confiscating land" and that "certain classes of people" are being treated "very badly."
South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who is close to Trump, has said white South Africans have been the victims of "racist ownership laws."
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill in January aimed at making it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest, in some cases without compensating the owner.
Ramaphosa has defended the policy and said the government had not confiscated any land. The policy was aimed at evening out racial disparities in land ownership in the Black-majority nation, he said.

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Iran, UK, France, Germany to Hold Nuclear Talks on Friday

Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran, UK, France, Germany to Hold Nuclear Talks on Friday

Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will hold nuclear talks in Rome on Friday with Britain, France and Germany, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday, with the aim of improving strained ties at a time of high-stakes nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.
The meeting will precede a fourth round of nuclear talks this weekend between Iran and the United States, also to be held in Italy.
"In my opinion, the three European countries have lost their role (in the nuclear file) due to the wrong policies they have adopted. Of course, we do not want this and are ready to hold talks with them in Rome," Araqchi told state media.
Reuters reported on Monday that Tehran had proposed meeting the European countries, collectively known as the E3, which are parties to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
E3 political directors confirmed they would meet with Iran on Friday.
Trump has threatened to attack Iran unless it agrees to a new nuclear deal. Iran has far exceeded the 2015 agreement's curbs on its nuclear program since the United States withdrew, and the European countries share Washington's concern that Tehran could seek an atomic bomb. Iran says its program is peaceful.
A UN Security Council resolution ratifying the 2015 accord expires in October, and France's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Paris would not think twice about re-imposing international sanctions if negotiations fail to reach a deal.
"These sanctions would permanently close off Iranian access
to technology, investment, and the European market, with devastating effects on the country's economy," Jean-Noel Barrot said.
Iran's UN representative responded: "If France and its partners are truly seeking a diplomatic solution, they must stop threatening."
On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on what it described as a network based in Iran and China accused of procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Araqchi said US sanctions during negotiations sent the "wrong message".
Trump has said he is confident of clinching a new pact that would block Iran's path to a nuclear bomb.