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Tehran, March 15 : Iran will appoint a special rapporteur pertaining to the impact of western sanctions on the Iranian people, a senior official said

We have decided to appoint a special rapporteur to assess the impact of unjust sanctions imposed by the US and Europe on the Iranian nation, Ali Baqeri Kani, the head of the Iranian Judiciarys High Council for Human Rights, was quoted as saying on Sunday by Xinhua news agency.

The results of rapporteurs work will be submitted to judicial and human rights authorities at international, regional and national levels, said Baqeri Kani.

The rapporteur will also take steps to form a global front against violation of human rights of independent nations as a result of unjust sanctions by the US and other western countries, he said.

Iran will support the victims of such unjust sanctions in various regional and human rights forums, the top official added.

Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from IANS service.

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Iran to appoint special rapporteur on sanctions - The Siasat Daily

Any new agreement between world powers and Iran must stop Tehran from developing all the components of a nuclear bomb and address new information uncovered since the original Iran deal of 2015, former acting national security adviser Jacob Nagel, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said in this weeks Jerusalem Post Zoom cast.

Rather than returning to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the Biden administration aims to do, Nagel said, there should be a very good agreement.

What is a very good agreement?... Everyone in the P5+1 the world powers party to the JCPOA says they dont want Iran to be nuclear, so we have to cut off [Irans] race to the bomb, Nagel said.

Nagel explained that the components of a nuclear weapon are its fissile materials, weapons system and means of delivery.

The old agreement didnt address delivery means at all.... There is nothing there about the weapons systems [Israel] pushed one [wimpy] page that [the US] never used. About the fissile systems, they gave [Iran] the de facto legitimacy for more than 5,000 centrifuges and to continue their research and development it was more than the Iranians dreamed of, Nagel said.

A new agreement must address all of those issues, he added.

Some say, no, its [information] from before 2003, forget about it, Nagel said, but the archive shows [Iran] didnt desert the idea to have a nuclear weapon. Its written in their handwriting that they want to design and test five warheads, each one 10 kilotons. Thats five Hiroshimas.

Iran still has all of the knowledge contained in those archives, and now theyre producing uranium metal, which has no civilian use, Nagel explained.

The former acting national security adviser warned against confidence-building measures such as those the Obama administration used in 2015 relaxing sanctions in exchange for Iran taking steps toward an agreement.

Its as if I found a burglar in my home with all my property and I tell him, you know what, leave half of it behind and I will let you go. No! First of all, give back all you took. Less for less, or intermediate agreements are very bad, Nagel said.

He also strongly opposed the US returning to the 2015 agreement as is which would include lifting sanctions and holding follow-up talks to make it stricter.

The biggest mistake would be [for the US] to go to the original agreement, because thats what they have, and then go to the Iranians to [negotiate] the next step, Nagel said. No way. After they go back to the old agreement, there is no incentive for the Iranians to go back to the table.

If that happens, there wont be any new agreement until 2030, when this agreement expires, and Iran... will have all the means to build a bomb.

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Ex-Netanyahu adviser: We have to stop Irans race to the bomb - The Jerusalem Post

Exercises include shooting at sea and air targets and liberating hijacked ships, as well as search-and-rescue and anti-piracy operations.

Tehran, Iran Iranian forces have concluded a two-day naval exercise with Russia in the northern part of the Indian Ocean.

Forces and vessels from the navy divisions of both the Iranian army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) participated in the drill, which kicked off on Tuesday, alongside several vessels from the Russian navy.

Admiral Gholamreza Tahani, spokesman for the drill, said the exercise his country was conducting with Russia was flexibly designed to allow several other countries to join it at any time, adding that the Indian navy had requested to join.

Hossein Khanzadi, commander of the Iranian navy, had said the Chinese navy would participate in the drill over an area of 17,000 square kilometres (6,500 square miles).

Iran, Russia and China held similar exercises in 2019.

But on Thursday, an Indian news website, timesnownews.com, carried a statement by the Indian navy denying New Delhis participation in the naval exercise.

Participation of China also could not be confirmed, and Tahani, spokesman, did not mention Beijing and New Delhi as the exercise concluded on Wednesday.

Tahani said the all-Iranian frigate Jamaran, unveiled in 2010, led the exercise while Iranian and Russian navy helicopters provided air monitoring and support.

The exercises will include shooting at sea and air targets and liberating hijacked ships, as well as search-and-rescue and anti-piracy operations. Iran says it hopes to exchange information and technical and tactical experience while becoming better-equipped to fight sea theft and terrorism.

Irans army and the IRGC have conducted several drills in the past two months in a show of force amid tensions with the United States.

These exercises saw a variety of locally manufactured long-range missiles, drones, tanks, warships, submarines and helicopters tested on land, sea and air targets.

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Iran, Russia conduct joint naval drill in Indian Ocean | Military News | Al Jazeera

Biden is scheduled to address world leaders Friday at a virtual session of the Munich Security Conference, remarks sure to be watched carefully by Iran as well as other countries trying to divine his intentions for the nuclear deal.

The State Department said Thursday that the United States would accept an expected European Union invitation to attend a gathering of parties to the original deal, including Iran, the timing of which was not immediately clear.

In a briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official called the prospect of meeting the Iranians face-to-face a step more than a breakthrough.

Overall, developments so far suggest that a full restoration of the original deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), may be a far messier, longer-lasting set of negotiations than what many observers had expected if it happens at all.

There is a window of opportunity that simply will not last, warned Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. The slow pace of deliberations on the part of the United States will jeopardize Bidens stated goal, which is to restore the agreement and to build on the JCPOA.

But there are a lot of different views within the administration, one of the people familiar with the discussions said, adding, I think theres an instinct to return to the deal, but thats not a preordained outcome.

I dont get the sense they have a timeline, like they dont have dates and times for reentering the deal, a Capitol Hill Democratic aide added.

One internal administration debate about the next steps has largely boiled down to this: Whether to aim for a return to the original nuclear deal first or seek a broader deal from the start. A broader deal could possibly include non-nuclear aspects, such as limits on Irans ballistic missile program, and have provisions that last longer than the original deal or are permanent.

Either way, one option on the table is to have some sort of interim agreement that can build confidence on both sides.

The interim agreement would not necessarily look like the original deal, people familiar with the discussions said. It could involve giving Iran some limited sanctions relief such as allowing oil sales in exchange for Tehran halting some of the moves it has made since President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement, such as enriching uranium to 20 percent purity.

One senior Biden administration official, however, insisted that the debate has passed. The agreed-upon goal remains to return to the original nuclear deal if Iran complies with it, the official said. But exactly what steps must be taken to achieve that goal and at what pace are still a matter of debate and discussion, the official said.

The people familiar with the discussions did not know or declined to say who among Biden aides was arguing for which tactics. Some stressed that the administration, not even a month old, is still filling key positions at the State Department, White House and beyond that are relevant to the Iran discussion.

Three of the people, however, noted that Brett McGurk, a senior Middle East official on the National Security Council staff, is among the more hawkish voices on Iran and that national security adviser Jake Sullivan at times takes a harder line than many of his colleagues.

Both of these senior national security officials may be more inclined to aim for a bigger deal immediately, rather than trying to resurrect the 2015 version, people familiar with the discussions said. That being said, Sullivan recently declared that containing Irans nuclear program is a critical early priority of the administration, signaling an eagerness to resolve the standoff.

Rob Malley, Bidens special envoy for the Iran talks, is known to be more of an advocate for a return to the original nuclear deal. Others likely to be on his side include Jeff Prescott, a top official in the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The people familiar with the discussions said they werent entirely certain where Secretary of State Antony Blinken stands.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council did not offer comment. A spokesperson for the State Department also did not immediately offer comment.

Washington politics, too, are a factor, some analysts say.

Sen. Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is one of several Democrats who joined Republicans in opposing the original deal during the Obama years. (Menendez also opposed Trumps decision to walk away from the deal without what the New Jersey senator considered a decent back up plan to constrain Iran.)

Menendez has pushed Biden to take a tough stance and said the president should not give Iran significant sanctions relief before it returns to the negotiating table.

Because Menendez plays a key role in Senate confirmation hearings for Biden nominees, theres extra sensitivity about angering him when it comes to Iran, two of the people familiar with the Biden teams discussions said.

The 2015 JCPOA lifted an array of U.S. and international economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for severe restrictions on the Islamist-led countrys nuclear program.

The deal was an international one: the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France, Britain and Iran were partners in the negotiation. The United Nations and the European Union also played key roles.

Struck during the presidency of Barack Obama, its supporters hailed it for dramatically curtailing Irans nuclear program, but its opponents cast it as too weak and too generous in terms of the sanctions relief it offered Iran in return.

After railing against the agreement for years, Trump formally pulled out in May 2018. The former president argued that the agreement was too narrow because it dealt only with Irans nuclear program and not other malign actions by Tehran, which has been a U.S. adversary for four decades.Trump also said he did not like the fact that some of the deals provisions would expire.

In the months and years after pulling the U.S. from the JCPOA, Trump not only reimposed the nuclear-related sanctions that had been lifted under the 2015 deal, but also added on new ones targeting an array of Iranian entities.

The beefed-up sanctions regime will complicate any return to the deal, especially given that many of the sanctions would penalize institutions from other countries including U.S. allies in Europe that want to do business in Iran.

Iran has technically remained a party to the agreement, which is still functional to a limited degree. But since the U.S. walked away from it, Tehran has taken several steps that have put it out of compliance and closer to building a bomb. The moves, analysts say, have been part of a campaign aimed at pushing America back to the negotiating table while also pressuring European leaders to find ways to ease the substantial economic pain the sanctions are causing Iran.

Recently, Iran has warned that starting next week it will take steps to scale back the enhanced access it gives to international inspectors who monitor its nuclear program under whats commonly called the additional protocol. However, Iran will continue to allow inspectors to access its facilities under its basic agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In a joint statement released Thursday, Blinken and his counterparts from France, Germany and Britain, called on Iran not to proceed with its clampdown on inspections. The three urged Iran to consider the consequences of such grave action, particularly at this time of renewed diplomatic opportunity.

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Many Biden aides are hesitant to appear as if they are capitulating to Iranian pressure by making deal-related moves to coincide with next weeks deadline on the additional protocol, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The joint statement also stated that Secretary Blinken reiterated that, as President Biden has said, if Iran comes back into strict compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA, the United States will do the same and is prepared to engage in discussions with Iran toward that end.

The expected European Union invitation for the United States to rejoin the original participants in the deal will likely lead to the first discussions at least in a publicly acknowledged way between the Biden administration and Iran. Analysts anticipate that the gathering will take place in March at what was already a tentatively planned meeting of the joint commission that oversees the nuclear deals implementation.

Separately, the Biden administration on Thursday told the U.N. Security Council that it was rescinding a Trump administration claim last year that all U.N. sanctions had been reimposed on Iran, according to a Reuters report. Trump aides made that assertion by insisting the U.S. could still trigger a snap back of the sanctions despite having left the nuclear deal, a claim rejected by most members of the Security Council.

The rescinding of the Trump claim may appease Iran to some extent. But broadly speaking, people familiar with the Biden administrations discussions said it has done little at least publicly to give Tehran hope that a resumption of the deal, and an end to sanctions, is likely anytime soon.

Even the U.S. rhetoric so far, from various podiums and Biden himself, has emphasized that Iran is out of compliance with the agreement, rather than acknowledging that the United States first initiated the breach of terms.

Malley has spent his short time so far as envoy reaching out to the other parties to the 2015 agreement, including Russia and China, but not to Iran itself, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Malley also has been in touch with representatives of Israel as well as Arab countries, people familiar with the discussions said. The Israelis and some key Arab partners of the United States opposed the 2015 agreement and have asked Washington to consult with them or even give them a seat at the table on future negotiations with Iran.

Some advocates of a speedy return to the 2015 agreement argue that time is of the essence, in part because Iranian presidential elections are set for June. The Iranian politicians likely to triumph are those who are even more anti-American than the ones who negotiated the deal.

Still, those who argue against any quick U.S. return to the deal point out that no matter who wins the Iranian election, the economic pain the country is suffering from sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic will force a return to the negotiating table.

Iran is in desperate financial and political straits right now, said Gabriel Noronha, a former State Department official. We have no reason to relent on the pressure, especially to get back to a deal which is already well on the way to expiring.

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Biden aides debate how, or if, to save original Iran deal - POLITICO

The New York Times

SAN ANTONIO Carrol Anderson spent much of his life in southeast Texas, where the most feared natural disasters spin up from the Gulf of Mexico during the warm months of hurricane season. But last week, Anderson, a 75-year-old who breathed with the help of oxygen tanks, knew that a different kind of storm was heading his way. To prepare, he ordered a fresh supply of oxygen that his stepdaughter said never arrived. There was a spare tank, however, in the pickup outside his one-story brick house in Crosby, Texas, just northeast of Houston. So when Anderson, an Army veteran who went by Andy, was found dead inside his truck Tuesday, his stepdaughter figured he had gone outside to retrieve it. His main tank, back in the house, runs on electricity, and the power had gone out the night before as a deadly cold descended on much of Texas. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times While the final tally could be much higher, Anderson was among at least 58 people who died in storm-affected areas stretching to Ohio, victims of carbon monoxide poisoning, car crashes, drownings, house fires and hypothermia. In Galveston County, along the Texas Gulf Coast, the authorities said two residents had died from exposure to the cold and one person from possible carbon monoxide poisoning. Four other deaths remained under investigation and were possibly linked to the frigid weather. County Judge Mark Henry, the countys top elected official, said he would have evacuated some of his most vulnerable residents before the winter storm had he known that power outages would plunge the county into darkness for a few days. He said the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the states power grid, had warned only of rolling blackouts. Instead, most residents were without power for at least 48 hours. We would have been happy to order an evacuation if wed been told Sunday the power was going to go out and stay out for four days, he said, noting the county is more accustomed to ordering evacuations before hurricanes. A spokeswoman for ERCOT said Friday that the surge in demand stressed the power grid, a crisis so dire that the local utilities were not able to rotate the outages. At its height, about 4 million Texans were without power this week as temperatures plummeted to the teens and single digits. About 165,000 remained without electricity on Friday, though millions were still without running water or under notices to boil their tap water. Still, there were signs of relief. In hard-hit Austin, City Manager Spencer Cronk said Friday that more than 1 million gallons of water would arrive over the next two days. The city plans to set up distribution centers, and Cronk said water would be delivered to the citys most vulnerable citizens, such as older people and those without homes. Greg Meszaros, the director of Austins water utility, said he expected that most residents would have their water pressure restored over the weekend. Boil water advisories should be lifted sometime next week, he said. Coming into clearer view were the dimensions of a public health crisis exacerbated by poverty, desperation and, in some cases, a lack of understanding of cold-weather safety. Texas hospitals and health providers saw more than 700 visits related to carbon monoxide poisoning between Monday and Wednesday. Thayer Smith, division chief with the Austin Fire Department, said his city had seen dozens of incidents of toxic exposure from people burning charcoal in their homes. The weather also hampered the response to the coronavirus pandemic. The White House on Friday said 6 million doses of coronavirus vaccines had been held up because of snowstorms across the country, creating a backlog affecting every state and throwing off the pace of vaccination appointments over the next week. In Texas, hospitals spent the week grappling with burst pipes, power outages and acute water shortages, making it difficult to care for patients. In Abilene, authorities said a man died at the Hendrick Medical Center after he was unable to get dialysis treatment at the site. Large amounts of filtered water, in addition to electricity and heat, are required to properly provide care for dialysis patients, and water at the hospital was shut down, said Cande Flores, the Abilene fire chief. Flores said that at least four people had died in Abilene as a result of the state power grid failure, including a homeless man who died from exposure to the cold, a 60-year-old man who was found dead in his home and an 86-year-old woman whose daughter found her frozen in her backyard. Elsewhere in the state, a 69-year-old man was found dead inside his home in a rural community south of San Antonio, where he lived alone. He did not have electricity, and the authorities said his bedroom was 35 degrees when they found him. In Houston, an Ethiopian immigrant died in her idling car, which was parked in her garage, where she sat while charging her phone. The woman, Etenesh Mersha, was talking to a friend when she started to feel tired. She tried to drink water, said Negash Desta, a relative by marriage to Mersha. After she told her friend she couldnt talk anymore, there was no response after that. The friend tried to call the police in Houston but did not have an address, Desta said. The friend turned to Facebook, where she found Desta. Hours later, he eventually received a message about what had happened and alerted the police. They found an entire family, poisoned. When they get in, they found the mother and daughter were just dead and the son and father alive. They had all fainted, he said, adding that the car had still been running. The daughter, Rakeb Shalemu, was 7 years old. Mershas husband and 8-year-old son were hospitalized. Desta said that the husband has since been released and that the boy, Beimnet Shalemu, was still in the intensive critical unit. Near Houston in Conroe, Texas, an 11-year-old boy, Cristian Pineda, was found dead in his bed on Monday morning. His family had no power the night before, and the parents, the boy and his siblings had huddled together in one bedroom, Lt. James Kelemen of the Conroe Police Department said Friday. Like Anderson and Mersha and her family, Cristian was the focus of a hastily assembled GoFundMe page. It requested donations to cover the expenses of his burial in Honduras, where his family is from. It had raised more than $38,000 as of Friday afternoon. The page showed a picture of a boy in a thin red hoodie, smiling and standing in the snow. On Tuesday, while Andersons wife was mopping up their living room after a frozen pipe burst, he walked to the garage to try to get a generator going, hoping he could help clean up with a Shop-Vac. His wife would not know until later that he had walked to his truck in search of oxygen, said his stepdaughter, Brandi Campanile. It was 19 degrees. His spare oxygen tank, it would turn out, was empty. He was trying to get oxygen and it was just a losing battle, Campanile said Friday. Texas is not meant to handle freezing temperatures. Its not something that happens out here. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. 2021 The New York Times Company

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Iran: US must lift sanctions before it lives up to nuke deal