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MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the positions of Moscow and Berlin on Irans nuclear program are rather close.

At a press conference following the talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, the Russian head of state said that they discussed some relevant global issues, including the situation around Irans nuclear program.

"We are in constant contact on this issue at the level of the ministries of foreign affairs, and I should point out that our positions are rather close," the Russian leader stressed.

The eighth round of talks continued in Vienna after a New Year break. The negotiations seek to restore the JCPOA in its original form and bring the US back into the agreement. Following a JCPOA Joint Commission meeting between Iran and the five world powers (Russia, the UK, Germany, China and France) on December 27, 2021, the parties agreed to accelerate the process of drafting the agreement in the working groups. This round is expected to be the last, as the parties intend to complete the negotiations by February 2022.

Putin also thanked Scholz "for joint work" at the meeting in Moscow adding that the dialogue was "useful and substantive."

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Russian and German views on Irans nuclear program rather close, Putin says - TASS

Hamed Esmaeilion, a dentist from the northern suburbs of Toronto, admires the 2006 film The Lives of Others, in which an East German secret policeman turns against the regimes secrecy and tries to help its victims. In the epilogue, the regime implodes, Germany reunifies, and the characters are allowed to see state records that reveal the truth surrounding a terrible event.

We are all waiting for the last ten minutes of that movie, said Esmaeilion, who lost his wife Parisa and daughter Reera when Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps shot down Ukrainian Airlines flight PS752 as it took off for Kyiv from Tehran on Jan. 8, 2020.

But Esmaeilion, who is also the spokesperson for the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, which represents most of the victims loved ones, is doubtful about Canadas resolve in seeking the truth.

While most of the 176 victims had ties to Canada55 were citizens, 30 were permanent residents and many were studying hereEsmaeilion says Canada has taken a very conservative approach to the whole process.

The families struggle for truth now appears to have reached a stalemate. Last December, Iranian authorities refused point-blank to negotiate with the International Coordination and Response Group formed by countries that lost citizens in the shooting, which include Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom (Afghanistan was also represented until the Taliban takeover last August). The group has declared further efforts to negotiate with Iran futile.

The families struggle for truth now appears to have reached a stalemate. Last December, Iranian authorities refused point blank to negotiate with the International Coordination and Response Group formed by countries that lost citizens in the shooting, which include Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom (Afghanistan was also represented until the Taliban takeover last August). The group has declared further efforts to negotiate with Iran futile.

Without transparency from the Iranian government, the victims families remain haunted by unanswered questions, which they outlined in a November 2021 report titled The Lonely Fight For Justice.

Among the questions they raised: Why did Iran leave its airspace open amid hostilities with the U.S. on the night of the shooting? How could Irans air defense system mistake a civilian plane for an incoming missile? Why did Iran deny its involvement in shooting down the plane for three days afterwards? Why did authorities bulldoze the crash site? Why have Iranian authorities harassed the victims families and interfered with funerals, as documented by Human Rights Watch last year?

The report concludes that Iran left its airspace open so that civilian aircraft could serve as human shields against possible U.S. retaliation for an Iranian missile strike on a U.S. base in Iraq. Iran struck the base in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike that killed the commander of the Revolutionary Guards expeditionary Qods Force, General Qassem Soleimani. The report also speculates that the shooting of the plane could have been intentional, part of an asymmetric warfare strategy designed to forestall further military escalation with the U.S.

While the latter claim might seem shocking or conspiratorial, it has received varying degrees of support from outside observers. Agnes Callamard, the United Nations former special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, wrote to Iran in December 2020 that, while she had not found concrete proof that the shooting was premeditated, the question needs to be further investigated. In a controversial civil court ruling last May, an Ontario Superior Court judge labelled the shooting an intentional terrorist act. In December, he awarded six of the victims families $107 million, which they can try to collect from Irans assets.

The six families lawyer, Mark Arnold, told the CBC this could include claims on Iranian oil tankers in foreign ports or as-yet-unnamed Iranian assets in Canada. He has called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help the families collect on those assets.

Javad Soleimani, the chair of the Association of Familiess fact-finding committee, and who lost his wife Elnaz in the attack, said he and the majority of PS752 families believe Iran targeted the plane intentionally.

The Islamic Republic, he said, is not a normal regime. While he welcomed the Ontario courts ruling, he said he and most of the families put truth above compensation.

We cant talk about compensation without knowing what happened, he said.

Whether one believes the shooting was intentional or not, Soleimani said, there is a need for an impartial investigation, and since negotiations with Iran have failed, Canada should list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation and apply Magnitsky-style sanctions to Iranian officials.

Two years of living without answers, he said, have hindered his ability to grieve. His wifes clothes and shoes are still at his home, but, he said, I dont dare to even touch them.

Navaz Ebrahim, also a member of the families association, lost her older sister Niloufar and brother-in-law Saeed, who were newlyweds living in the UK. Her parents, she said, are not doing well.

They have aged several years in just two years, she said, and Iran is now trying to close the case by offering compensation on its own terms, in lieu of disclosing all the details of the incident. The official government line also describes the victims as shahidsIslamic martyrs akin to those who died fighting in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

A shahid is someone who goes to war, but our loved ones were not going to war, she said.

Esmaeilion, Soleimani and Ebrahim now pin their hopes on Canadas involvement with international institutions: Canada, they say, should take the case to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

Other options, Esmaeilion says, are also under consideration, such as offering an award to encourage a whistleblower within the Iranian regime to come forward with what could be a smoking gun.

We are fighters to the end of this story, Esmaeilion says. But I am a different person now. I have to go in front of cameras and talk about our strategy, our demands, how we feel about this or that news, instead of taking my daughter to school every day.

See more here:
'We are fighters to the end of this story': PS752, two years on - OpenCanada

Liz Truss admitted she fears Europe is on the brink of war as attempts to defuse tensions with Russia over Ukraine have so far failed to bear fruits. The Foreign Secretary said there are concerns failure to prevent an invasion could send a disastrous signal to countries such as Iran and China about European weakness. Speaking to Sky News, Ms Truss said: "We could see the undermining of security more broadly in Europe and we could also see other aggressors around the world see it as an opportunity to expand their ambitions too.

"This is a very dangerous moment for the world.

"This is, of course, about Ukraine which is an important sovereign nation but it's also about the wider stability of Europe and it's about wider global stability and the message we give to aggressors.

"We have to give the message to Vladimir Putin that there can be no reward for aggression, there can be no reward for lining up troops on somebody else's border and threatening to invade."

Asked about which countries could be emboldened by a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ms Truss said: "We're currently in negotiations with Iran over stopping them acquiring a nuclear weapon in Vienna.

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Russia denies planning to invade and accused the West of hysteria after sending a flurry of officials to Moscow and Kiev.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday suggested to Putin that Moscow continue along the diplomatic path in its efforts to extract security guarantees from the West.

UK officials reportedly believe Russia is sending thousands more troops to the border.

The Guardian reported officials estimate a further 14 Russian battalions are heading towards Ukraine, each numbering about 800 troops, on top of 100 battalions massed on the borders.

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Alliance of evil! Truss warns Russia invasion to embolden Iran and China against Europe - Daily Express

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a ceremony to mark the 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran February 10, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

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Feb 11 (Reuters) - Hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Friday Tehran never pins hope on ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the country's 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers.

Iran and the United States resumed indirect talks in the Austrian capital on Tuesday after a 10-day break, but envoys gave little away as to whether they were closer to resolving various thorny issues.

"We put our hopes on the east, west, north, south of our country and never have any hope in Vienna and New York, Raisi said in a televised speech commemorating the 43rd anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution.

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Raisi, whose election last June led to a five-month hiatus in the talks, said Iran would rely on its domestic economic potential rather than expect support from overseas and from the nuclear talks with world powers.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration publicly pressured Iran on Wednesday to revive the agreement quickly, saying that it will be impossible to return to the accord if a deal is not struck within weeks. read more

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday there was still a long way to go before the deal could be revived.

Raisi said: "Our foreign policy is balanced. Looking toward the West has made the country's relations unbalanced, we need to look at all countries and capacities in the world, especially our neighbours.

His speech was frequently interrupted by chants of Death to America - a trademark slogan of the revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah in 1979. The audience also chanted Death to England and Death to Israel.

For the second year in a row, Iranians marked the revolutions anniversary by parading vehicles in the streets rather than marching on foot in line with regulations aimed at limiting COVID-19 contagion.

State television aired live footage of cars and motorcycles moving through the streets of dozens of cities and towns where, before the pandemic, tens of thousands of people would march for the annual event.

In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal - designed to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon - and reimposed sanctions in a bid to force Tehran into talks on a broader agreement that would have also addressed its ballistic missile programme and support for proxies in the Middle East.

Iran responded by breaching many of the deal's restrictions and pushing well beyond them, enriching uranium to close to nuclear bomb-grade and using advanced centrifuges to do it, which has helped it hone its skills in operating those machines.

Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday the United States had to make a "political decision" regarding lifting sanctions as Tehran's demand for their full removal to revive the 2015 deal was non-negotiable. read more

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Editing by Mark Heinrich

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Iranian president says Tehran 'never has hope' in Vienna nuclear talks - Reuters

Washington, DC United States Senator Bob Menendez started an hour-long presentation on the Senate floor last week with a poster featuring a green, white and red bomb the colours of the Iranian flag.

Over the next 60 minutes, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee argued tirelessly against reviving the Iran nuclear deal, warning that the curbs the pact would impose on what he called Tehrans dangerously and rapidly escalating nuclear programme are not enough.

At this point, we seriously have to ask: What exactly are we trying to salvage? Menendez, a key Democrat, said on February 1.

As Iran nuclear deal negotiations enter the final stretch, Menendez is not alone in voicing opposition to reviving the landmark agreement, with Republicans and hawkish Democrats in Washington, DC warning President Joe Biden against restoring the pact.

That more vocal US rebuke of the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is a sign that a deal is imminent, analysts say and that Biden is pushing ahead to secure it despite potential political costs.

This is a clear signal, as we also know from other reporting, that a deal is in sight. The negotiators are close to the end goal, said Negar Mortazavi, an Iranian-American journalist and analyst. And thats why the opposition is growing louder because they see it as something imminent and want to stop it, as they tried to do in 2015.

The eighth round of indirect US-Iranian talks resumed in Vienna this week after a hiatus that saw diplomats return to their respective capitals for consultations.

The 2015 multilateral agreement saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions against its economy. Former US President Donald Trump nixed the deal in 2018 and started reimposing sanctions on Iran as part of a maximum pressure campaign. In response, Iran has escalated its nuclear programme well beyond the limits set by the JCPOA.

Biden vowed to restore the agreement negotiated by the administration of former President Barack Obama, in which Biden served as vice president but multiple rounds of talks in the Austrian capital have yet to forge a path back into the deal.

This time, however, the negotiations have resumed amid some positive signs.

Last week, the US restored sanction waivers that would allow other countries to assist Iran with its civilian nuclear programme, a step Washington said is necessary for restoring the agreement and bringing Tehran back into compliance with the deal. A US official also said last month that negotiations are entering the final stretch.

Biden administration officials, branding Trumps maximum pressure policy a failure, have argued that the deal is crucial to containing Irans nuclear programme and ensuring through diplomacy that Tehran never develops a nuclear weapon.

But several US lawmakers have been increasingly outspoken against reviving the deal.

Critics say the agreement fails to address major sticking points with Iran, including its ballistic missile programme and support for militias hostile to Washington and its allies across the Middle East. They also argue that Irans recent nuclear escalation proves that the JCPOA only limited without fundamentally disabling Irans nuclear programme.

We do know that even for the first couple of years of the JCPOA, Iranian leaders gave absolutely no indication that they were willing to look beyond the scope of these limited terms and fought vigorously to keep their highly advanced nuclear infrastructure in place, Menendez said last week.

On Tuesday, 33 Republican senators sent a letter to Biden calling on his administration to put a renewed JCPOA to a vote in the US Congress as a treaty. Formal treaties require a two-thirds majority in the Senate to be ratified. Currently, Democrats have the thinnest of majorities in an evenly divided chamber, where Vice President Kamala Harris casts the tie-breaking vote.

The Republican senators warned that any agreement not approved by Congress would likely be torn up in the early days of the next presidential administration.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell last week also cited Menendezs opposition to the JCPOA in urging more pressure on Iran, calling the country the biggest threat America and its partners face in the Middle East.

Yet as opposition mounts, proponents of diplomacy with Iran are rallying support for the JCPOA.

Senators Jeff Merkley and Ed Markey released a joint statement reaffirming support for the agreement on Wednesday.

A restoration of the Iran Nuclear Deal will verifiably close off Irans pathways to a nuclear bomb through the most intrusive monitoring and inspection regime ever negotiated in a nonproliferation agreement, the senators said.

On Wednesday, 20 advocacy groups in favour of US diplomacy with Iran including Americans for Peace Now, J Street, MoveOn, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and the Truman Center for National Policy urged the Biden administration to continue to push to revive the JCPOA.

Many of those who cheered as Trump sabotaged the JCPOA have already made clear that the maximum pressure road ends in a full-blown war between the US and Iran, they said in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

A turn away from diplomacy toward a war of choice with Iran would be incredibly detrimental to US national security.

Ryan Costello, policy director at NIAC, one of the groups that signed Wednesdays letter to the Biden administration, said the deal offers crucial, immediate non-proliferation benefits, while noting that regional security worsened after Trump left the agreement.

Costello told Al Jazeera that demands to dismantle Irans nuclear programme and change its geopolitical posture, which he said would amount to a surrender for Tehran, have never been in the cards.

The way you might get to a longer deal, or more-for-more deal that addresses issues beyond the nuclear file, is to first show that the US can comply with its sanctions-lifting commitments because thats our leverage over Iran right now, he said.

Early in his tenure, Biden and his top aides emphasised consultations with Congress and US allies in the Middle East. They succeeded in securing backing for the deal from the Gulf Cooperation Council, but Israel the USs top ally in the region and many in Congress remain adamant in rejecting the JCPOA.

Mortazavi, the journalist, said more than a year into the Biden administration, it has become clear that a US president who seeks to pursue diplomacy with Tehran will not satisfy hawkish officials in Washington. For that reason, she said she hopes the administration has given up on trying to appease them. It looks like they have because the opposition is becoming more and more vocal from the other side, she told Al Jazeera.

Mortazavi also stressed that it is fully within the presidents authority to revive the agreement, noting that JCPOA opponents do not have a two-thirds, veto-proof majority in Congress to thwart such a move. At the end of the day, I think there still will be a political cost for this; the critics will attack the president and his team when they make that decision [to return to the deal], she said.

Still, Imad Harb, director of research and analysis at the Arab Center Washington DC, said with Americans growing wary of interventions in the Middle East, the attacks on Biden if he restores the deal are unlikely to damage Democrats in Novembers congressional midterm elections.

He added that it will be difficult for Republicans to paint Biden as dangerous for Israel because he himself is more pro-Israel than they are, anyway.

I really dont think that this is going to be a political setback for him. I think hes going to gain from it, Harb told Al Jazeera.

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As Iran nuclear talks enter final stretch, opposition grows in US - Al Jazeera English