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(REUTERS) - Iran was given a four-year ban by the International Judo Federation (IJF) for "repeated and very severe breaches" of the organisation's statutes after it pressured one of its fighters not to face an Israeli athlete.

Judo's world governing body imposed the ban on April 29 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last month lifted a previous indefinite suspension and ordered a disciplinary review.

The IJF had previously sanctioned Iran in October for putting pressure on fighter Saeid Mollaei to withdraw from the World Championships to avoid a potential final round against Israeli contender Sagi Muki.

Mollaei, a 2018 judo world champion, subsequently fled Iran - which does not recognise Israel's existence - for Germany, where he was granted refugee status, and later became a citizen of Mongolia.

Iran appealed the decision to CAS, which ruled that although Iran committed "severe violations", the unlimited suspension imposed on the country had no legal basis and referred back to the IJF's disciplinary commission for further decisions.

"The Disciplinary Commission considers that the status of IJF member of IRIJF should be provisionally withdrawn for a period of four years, i.e. a full Olympiad," the IJF said in a statement.

The ban is backdated to start in 2019 and will run until 2023.

The IJF also said it "continues to defend fundamental human values and rights of all its members, with a special emphasis on the rights of athletes and reiterates its commitment to fight against any form of discrimination in the sport of Judo".

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Judo: Iran handed four-year ban by international federation - The Straits Times

Muscat: Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran accredited to the Sultanate, Ali Najafi Khoshroudi reaffirmed that the relations between the Sultanate and Iran were deep-rooted and characterised with good neighbourhood and strong ties, thanks to the will of the leaders of both the countries and their efforts for enhancement of cooperation in the various spheres.

In a statement to Oman News Agency, he said that "We always welcome and value the role the Sultanate plays in settlement of disputes and differences in the region."

He also appreciated the role, the Sultanate played in reaching the nuclear deal between Iran and P5 + 1. "Iran is committed with this nuclear deal and ready for dialogue in this framework," he said.

He said that the volume of exchange of trade between the Sultanate and Iran stood at OMR1 billion approximately.

We, through the joint efforts, would seek to further enhance the trade relations and upgrade the level of exchange of trade between the two countries, he added.Regarding Omani Vision 2040, he said that it was a significant long term vision aimed at the prosperity of the Sultanate in the various spheres through diversification of sources of income and economic activities.

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Ambassador of Iran hails strong ties with Oman - Times of Oman

Bahareh and Emad Shargi in California in June 2017. Bahareh Shargi hide caption

Bahareh and Emad Shargi in California in June 2017.

Later this month, Bahareh Shargi will mark an anniversary: It will be three years that her husband has been stuck in Iran.

Iranian authorities first imprisoned Emad Shargi, a U.S. citizen, on April 23, 2018. Though they eventually released him on bail, they did not allow him to leave the country and later returned him to Tehran's Evin prison. Now his family hopes that speaking out may help him.

His wife discussed his case at the Washington, D.C., home where they raised two daughters. She sat on their concrete back porch, which overlooks a playground set from the days when their children were little. "I'm so proud to have spent the last 32 years with him," she said. She calls these last three years spent apart "this ordeal."

Emad, Shargi, 56, is one of numerous U.S. citizens who have been arrested in Iran over the years on opaque charges of espionage. He said he was innocent, and Iran made no evidence public.

Iranian diplomats have frequently spoken of exchanging such prisoners for Iranians in U.S. prisons. While the United States formally rejects any such exchanges, some U.S. and Iranian prisoners were released during the Trump administration. But not Emad Shargi.

Bahareh Shargi, 53, said she and her husband were born in Iran, and both moved to the United States when they were young and became citizens. But they maintained family ties to their native country, and when their children went to college a few years ago, they chose to take an opportunity to live in Tehran.

Emad Shargi in 2015 Bahareh Shargi hide caption

Emad Shargi in 2015

"We had this window of time where we thought, 'We can travel,' " she said.

They occupied a house in Tehran belonging to Bahareh Shargi's family. Emad Shargi, a businessman, had previously worked in the Persian Gulf region and briefly worked for the Dutch arm of an Iranian venture capital firm.

His wife insists that they had no hint of trouble with Iranian authorities until after midnight on April 23, 2018, when she woke to find "15, 16, 17 men and a woman, strangers in our home." They took the couple's passports and many other documents, and left with Emad.

She followed him to Evin prison, an imposing mountainside structure in north Tehran. It occupies an outsized place in the Iranian psyche as the destination for many who fall out of favor with Iran's security services. She passed through its gates daily, seeking to meet a senior official, but only reached a secretary who told her to go home. She recounts being told, "We will call you. Your husband will be here for a long, long time."

Emad Shargi was released from prison in December 2018, but his passport was not returned, making it impossible for him to travel. His wife reluctantly returned to the U.S., hoping he could follow. But after nearly two years of waiting, he was rearrested in November 2020.

Bahareh Shargi grew concerned that month when she could not reach him by video conference as she usually did. Finally she learned he was back in prison from the BBC Persian news service. "I opened my phone," she said, and saw "three pictures of a man that looked like Emad, but had aged, I would say, 20, 30 years since the last time I had seen him on FaceTime."

The Shargi family in 2015. Bahareh Shargi hide caption

The Shargi family in 2015.

In February Emad was allowed to begin calling from Evin. He said he had been convicted in a trial he did not attend, and issued a 10-year sentence.

Bahareh Shargi and their daughters, Hannah, 22, and Ariana, 24, gather around the phone when he calls.

"What I've been trying to do lately is let him know we are doing other things and higher up people are doing other things, and 'You are not forgotten,' " Bahareh Shargi said.

On a recent call, she informed her husband that U.S. and Iranian diplomats would be in Vienna this week, passing messages back and forth. It's an effort to find a way for the U.S. to rejoin a nuclear agreement with Iran and other world powers.

When U.S. diplomats last negotiated over Iran's nuclear program during the Obama administration, they worked to keep the talks separate from the discussions of imprisoned Americans. They wanted to avoid being asked to pay a kind of nuclear ransom for prisoners. These most recent nuclear talks are tentative U.S. and Iranian officials are not even in the same room but Rob Malley, the U.S. envoy to Iran, said President Biden "cares deeply" about getting "the American citizens released as soon as possible, reunited with their loved ones."

"They're not part of this negotiation, but they're part, in fact, of our thinking," Malley told NPR in an interview Monday. "And we're determined to see them released regardless of what happens on the nuclear track."

The families of Americans being held in Iran have urged the Biden administration to make their release a priority.

"Looking back," said Bahareh Shargi, "it was one big mistake of going there."

She gestured out into the backyard of their Washington home. "His best times were under this cherry blossom tree, which, if you come back in 20 days, is in full bloom [and] pink." She has no way to know when her husband might return to see their backyard cherry trees.

She remembered when their daughters were small, and "showered themselves with cherry blossoms" as the petals fell. "And the reason I say that is that I want to tell these people [that] you have the wrong person. Why do you have Emad?"

Lisa Weiner and Denise Couture produced and edited the audio story.

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3 Years Later, A Prisoner's Family Still Awaits His Return From Iran - NPR

Robert Malley, pictured in 2018, helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. He's now involved in talks to potentially restart the deal, beginning this week in Vienna. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Robert Malley, pictured in 2018, helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. He's now involved in talks to potentially restart the deal, beginning this week in Vienna.

The U.S. and Iran are holding indirect talks this week in Vienna over a return to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Diplomats from the two countries won't meet face to face representatives from Europe, Russia and China will serve as a go-between. Both the U.S. and Iran insist the other needs to make a concession first Iran says the U.S. should lift sanctions, while the U.S. says Iran should scale back its nuclear program.

Robert Malley will be one of the people representing the U.S. in the talks. He tells Morning Edition that it's only a first step in a long and difficult process with the goal of bringing both countries back into compliance.

"This is going to involve discussions about identifying the steps that the U.S. has to take and identifying the steps that Iran is going to have to take," he says. "Because they've been increasingly in noncompliance with their nuclear commitments."

Former President Donald Trump broke off from the deal in 2018 and imposed punitive sanctions. Iran in turn began to enrich uranium to higher percentages than was allowed under the deal, getting slightly closer to making the radioactive fuel used in nuclear weapons.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the sanctions imposed by Trump are illegal and that they must be removed before Iran changes its nuclear activities.

Malley, who is serving as a special envoy for the Biden administration, responds that "it's not going to work that way," telling NPR's Steve Inskeep that stance would mean Iran is "not serious" about rejoining the deal.

Malley helped negotiate the deal in 2015 when he served in the Obama National Security Council.

Here are excerpts from the interview, which have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

How out of compliance is Iran at the moment?

Every day that goes by, they're more out of compliance because they have obviously increased their stockpile of enriched uranium. They are experimenting with centrifuges that are more advanced than the ones that they were supposed to be using, they have restricted the access of the International Atomic Energy Organization. So they are doing things that are out of compliance.

And, you know, President Biden has been clear during the campaign and since he's been in the Oval Office that the United States is prepared to come into compliance if Iran does. Unfortunately, ever since the president has been in office, Iran has moved further out of compliance.

Even before these negotiations began, there were groups who are opposed to resuming this nuclear agreement who've been taking out ads in papers and lobbying in different ways. Is there a case to be made for the status quo? It wasn't what you would have done had you been around during the Trump administration. But Iran is still sort of in the deal and it's also sanctioned and restricted in many ways.

Listen, we've had a real life experiment with this. The last three years the Trump administration tested the proposition that putting Iran under maximum pressure and telling it either it needs to come back and forget about the existing nuclear deal and agree to more stringent requirements, or else the pressure would continue.

Well, we've seen what happened. Iran expanded its nuclear program, is getting closer to, sort of, troubling levels of enriched uranium, troubling levels of advanced centrifuges, troubling restrictions on the verification and monitoring, the unprecedented verification that the nuclear deal provided. So, no, we've seen the result of the maximum pressure campaign. It has failed.

You're telling me that this situation gets a little more dangerous each day. Iran comes a little more out of compliance each day. Are we on a trend line where if nothing changes, ultimately there would be a war because the United States is committed never to allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon?

I'm not going to go there. I am going to say that the United States under President Biden is committed to making sure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon. We believe the best way to do that is through diplomacy.

Do you have any indication that there could be any bipartisan support? There wasn't for the last agreement.

You know, hope springs eternal. We'll work as closely as we can with Congress. And this is a very polarizing issue. We understand that. At the same time we've stated clearly it was what the president ran on that we would come back into the deal if Iran resumed compliance and then work on it to achieve what I think every member of Congress has said he or she wants to achieve, which is a stronger, longer deal that meets U.S. core interests. But also would have to include further steps that Iran is looking for. And doing this in coordination with our regional allies, our regional partners.

This administration has set a goal for itself of a foreign policy that is in some way connected to Americans. How, if at all, could reentering this nuclear agreement help ordinary Americans?

It would not serve the interests of America or American citizens if there were growing tension in the Middle East because of an expanding Iranian nuclear program. So getting back into the deal is very much, in our estimation, in the interest of the United States and of its citizens.

So that the president and his team could focus on what really matters for the well-being of the American people and a return to an understanding that was working and which could serve as a platform to then get something even stronger for our benefit.

Critics of this deal have said what it did not include: limitations on Iranian missiles or Iran's activities in the region. What is something stronger that you could get in a follow-on agreement if you resume this agreement?

What we would pursue is, first of all, a longer agreement. Even though this one lasts quite some time and some of its provisions last forever, of course, it would be better, as in any arms control agreement, to see whether we could get a follow-on deal that extends the timelines. ...

And, you know, we have concerns about Iran's ballistic missile program. We have concerns about their activities in the region. We want to talk about all that. But we're much better off talking about all of that if we could at least put the current nuclear issue to the side and not have to worry every day about what the latest Iranian announcement will be.

Iran has its own presidential election coming up in June. Is it necessary for you to get any agreement started before that election?

It's not necessary. And we will negotiate with whoever is in power in Iran. And if we could reach an understanding before the elections, fine. And if we can't, we'll continue after that with whoever is in office in Tehran. So we can't ignore the reality of an election, but we can't let it dictate our pace either.

Lisa Weiner and Denise Couture produced and edited the audio interview. James Doubek produced for the Web.

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Biden Envoy To Iran On What To Expect In Renewed Nuclear Talks - NPR

WASHINGTON (AP) The Biden administration on Thursday welcomed a European Union announcement that the participants in the Iran nuclear deal will meet this week to discuss a possible return of the United States to the 2015 accord.

Fridays virtual meeting of officials from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran comes as the U.S. is exploring ways to rejoin the deal that former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. The State Department praised the meeting and said it would be watched closely by U.S. officials.

We obviously welcome this as a positive step and thats precisely because we have been clear for weeks now that we are ready to pursue a return to compliance with our (nuclear deal) commitments consistent with Iran also doing the same, spokesman Ned Price said. Its a positive step, especially if it moves the ball forward on that mutual return to compliance that weve talked about for a number of weeks now.

Earlier Thursday, the EU said one of its top diplomats, Enrique Mora, would chair the meeting. Participants will discuss the prospect of a possible return of the United States to the (nuclear deal) and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides, it said.

President Joe Biden has said the U.S. will to return to the deal if Iran comes back into compliance with it. Thus far, Iran has refused to entertain the offer unless the U.S. rescinds sanctions that Trump imposed on it. Iran already rejected an EU proposal for a meeting that included the United States. That proposal came in response to a Biden administration statement that it would accept an invitation to attend such talks.

Meanwhile, the State Department said it had extended a waiver that allows Iraq to continue to buy power from Iran without being subject to U.S. sanctions. penalties. The waiver was renewed for 120 days, an increase in shorter extensions that had become commonplace during the Trump administration.

Price said the extension was granted because of progress Iraq is making in developing its own electricity generation to reduce its reliance on outside sources of power. U.S. and Iraqi officials are resuming a strategic dialogue soon that places energy near the top of priorities and Washington hopes will ultimately allow Iraq to develop its energy self-sufficiency, and we hope to end its reliance on Iran, Price said.

In the interim, renewal of the sanctions waiver is appropriate, until the agreement and development of the Iraqi energy sector can be fully realized and implemented., he said. Price added that the U.S. believed the four-month extension was long enough for Iraq to take meaningful action to promote energy self-sufficiency and to reduce its dependence on expensive Iranian energy.

The Trump administration had only reluctantly approved such extensions because they ran counter to its maximum pressure campaign on Iran. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been granting the waivers but reducing their length to push Iraq to wean itself from Iranian electricity.

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Biden admin lauds talks on readmitting US to Iran nuke deal - Associated Press