Iran Says No Sanctions Relief in US Nuclear Proposal

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File
Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File
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Iran Says No Sanctions Relief in US Nuclear Proposal

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File
Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. AFP/File

Iran's parliament speaker said on Sunday that the latest US proposal for a nuclear deal does not include the lifting of sanctions, state media reported as negotiations appeared to have hit a roadblock.

The two foes have held five rounds of Omani-mediated talks since April, seeking to replace a landmark agreement between Tehran and world powers that set restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, before US President Donald Trump abandoned the accord in 2018 during his first term, said AFP.

In a video aired on Iranian state TV, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that "the US plan does not even mention the lifting of sanctions".

He called it a sign of dishonesty, accusing the Americans of seeking to impose a "unilateral" agreement that Tehran would not accept.

"The delusional US president should know better and change his approach if he is really looking for a deal," Ghalibaf said.

On May 31, after the fifth round of talks, Iran said it had received "elements" of a US proposal, with officials later taking issue with "ambiguities" in the draft text.

The US and its Western allies have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has consistently denied, insisting that its atomic program was solely for peaceful purposes.

Key issues in the negotiations have been the removal of biting economic sanctions and uranium enrichment.

Tehran says it has the right to enrich uranium under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while the Trump administration has called any Iranian enrichment a "red line".

Trump, who has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran since taking office in January, has repeatedly said it will not be allowed any uranium enrichment under a potential deal.

On Tuesday, Iran's top negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said the country "will not ask anyone for permission to continue enriching uranium".

IAEA meeting

According to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state in the world that enriches uranium up to 60 percent -- close to the 90 percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead.

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the latest US proposal and said enrichment was "key" to Iran's nuclear program.

The IAEA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet in Vienna starting Monday and discuss Iran's nuclear activities.

On Sunday the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran warned it could reduce its level of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if it adopts a resolution against it.

"Certainly, the IAEA should not expect the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue its broad and friendly cooperation," the Iranian agency's spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told state TV.

Araghchi on Friday accused European powers of "opting for malign action against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors", warning on X that "Iran will react strongly against any violation of its rights".

A quarterly report from the IAEA issued last week cited a "general lack of cooperation" from Iran and raised concerns over undeclared nuclear material.

Tehran has rejected the report as politically motivated and based on "forged documents" it said had been provided by its arch foe Israel.



Air India Probe of Boeing 787 Fuel Control Switches Finds No Issues

FILE PHOTO: A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo
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Air India Probe of Boeing 787 Fuel Control Switches Finds No Issues

FILE PHOTO: A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

Air India's inspection of the locking feature on the fuel control switches of its existing Boeing 787 aircraft found no issues, an internal communication circulated within the airline said.

The switches have come under scrutiny following last month's crash of an Air India jet that killed 260 people after a preliminary probe by Indian investigators found that they had flipped from run position to cutoff shortly after takeoff.

India's aviation regulator earlier this week ordered the country's airlines to investigate the locking feature on the switches of several Boeing models.

The order came after Boeing notified operators that the fuel switch locks on its jets were safe.

But it was in line with a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2018, which recommended inspection of the locks to ensure they could not be moved accidentally.

Air India's probe, however, found no problems with the locking mechanism, AFP reported.

"Over the weekend, our Engineering team initiated precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of Fuel Control Switch (FCS) on all our Boeing 787 aircraft," the airline's flight operations department said in a communication to its pilots.

"The inspections have been completed and no issues were found," the communication said, noting that it had complied with the regulator's directives.

It added that all of its Boeing 787-8 aircraft had also undergone "Throttle Control Module (TCM) replacement as per the Boeing maintenance schedule", adding that the FCS was part of this module.

Other countries have also ordered their airlines to examine fuel switches on Boeing aircraft.

Singapore found them all to be "functioning properly".

"Our checks confirmed that all fuel switches on SIA (Singapore Airlines) and Scoot's Boeing 787 aircraft are functioning properly and comply with regulatory requirements," an SIA spokesperson told AFP earlier this week.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that crashed last month was heading from Ahmedabad in western India to London, with the accident killing all but one of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.