SHARE
COPY LINK

IRAN

Kerry set for more Iran talks in Lausanne

US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Lausanne on March 15th to meet with his Iranian counterpart as part of continuing talks on Tehran's nuclear program, the State Department said on Monday.

Kerry set for more Iran talks in Lausanne
Kerry: heading back to Switzerland. Photo: AFP/File

Kerry will sit down with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for the ongoing "P5+1" nuclear talks, the State Department said, as negotiators race to beat a March 31st deadline for reaching a deal.
   
Talks with Iran, which have gone on for more than a year, aim to prevent the Islamic republic from acquiring a nuclear arsenal.

A final deal is meant to be concluded by the end of June.
   
Under discussion are guarantees to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb and a lifting of Western sanctions against the country.
   
The negotiations have included US-Iran bilateral talks as well as discussions among the P5+1: Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the
United States.
   
The State Department said that prior to heading to Switzerland, Kerry will travel to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on March 12 to attend the Egypt Economic Development Conference.
   
"While in Sharm el-Sheikh, Secretary Kerry will also meet with President (Abdel Fattah) al-Sisi and other senior Egyptian leaders to discuss a range of bilateral and global issues, including coalition efforts against ISIL, the situation in Libya, and the ongoing crisis in Syria," the State Department said, adding that more items may be added to the agenda.
   
"The United States is committed to strengthening its long-term strategic and economic partnership with Egypt," the US statement said.
   
"We continue to work with the Egyptian government to help the Egyptian people stabilize and grow the economy, create jobs, educate young people, improve access to health care, and to help realize the aspirations of the Egyptian people for an inclusive, rights- and freedoms-respecting and peaceful political climate."

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TRIAL

Danish terror trial begins against Iranian separatists

Three leaders of an Iranian Arab separatist group pleaded not guilty to financing and promoting terrorism in Iran with Saudi Arabia's backing, as their trial opened in Denmark on Thursday.

Danish terror trial begins against Iranian separatists
File photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The three risk 12 years in prison if found guilty.

Aged 39 to 50, the trio are members of the separatist organisation ASMLA (Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz), which is based in Denmark and the Netherlands and which Iran considers a terrorist group.

The three, one of whom is a Danish citizen, have been held in custody in Denmark since February 2020.

Gert Dyrn, lawyer for the eldest of the three, told AFP that in his client’s opinion “what they are charged with is legitimate resistance towards an oppressive regime.”

“They are not denying receiving money from multiple sources, including Saudi Arabia, to help the movement and help them accomplish their political aim,” Dyrn said. 

His client has lived as a refugee in Denmark since 2006. 

According to the charge sheet seen by AFP, the three received around 30 million kroner (four million euros, $4.9 million) for ASMLA and its armed branch, through bank accounts in Austria and the United Arab Emirates.

The trio is also accused of spying on people and organisations in Denmark between 2012 and 2020 for Saudi intelligence.

Finally, they are also accused of promoting terrorism and “encouraging the activities of the terrorist movement Jaish Al-Adl, which has activities in Iran, by supporting them with advice, promotion, and coordinating attacks.”

The case dates back to 2018 when one of the three was the target of a foiled attack on Danish soil believed to be sponsored by the Iranian regime in retaliation for the killing of 24 people in Ahvaz, southwestern Iran, in September 2018.

READ ALSO:

Tehran formally denied the attack plan in Denmark, but a Danish court last year jailed a Norwegian-Iranian for seven years for his role in the plot. 

That attack put Danish authorities on the trail of the trio’s ASMLA activities.

Sunni Saudi Arabia is the main rival in the Middle East of Shia Iran, and Tehran regularly accuses it, along with Israel and the United States, of supporting separatist groups.

Lawyer Gert Dyrn said this was “the first case in Denmark within terror law where you have to consider who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter.”

SHOW COMMENTS