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Iran snubs French call for missile talks citing ‘lack of trust’

Iran rejected France’s call for talks on issues beyond the nuclear dossier on Friday, saying it was impossible so long as Western powers failed to meet existing commitments.

Iran snubs French call for missile talks citing 'lack of trust'

“There is no basis of trust for negotiations, certainly on subjects which are non-negotiable,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Bahram Ghasemi, according to the Tasnim news agency.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday that Iran must be open to discussions on its missile programme and regional interventions.

But Ghasemi said Europe must first show it can salvage the 2015 nuclear deal following the withdrawal of the United States in May and its reimposition of sanctions.

“The European authorities have up to now repeatedly stated their position but have not succeeded in presenting the necessary and sufficient guarantees that we are awaiting… to preserve the international agreement,” he said.

“The Iranian people have no other solution than to be mistrustful towards them while their commitments are not being fulfilled.”

Le Drian’s latest comments echoed some of the reasons given by US President Donald Trump for his withdrawal from the nuclear agreement.

“Iran cannot avoid discussions, negotiations on three other major subjects that worry us the future of Iran’s nuclear commitments after 2025, the ballistic question… and the role Iran plays to stabilise the whole region,” Le Drian said in Vienna.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says its missiles are a legitimate defence against much more heavily armed rivals.

The 2015 deal lifted international sanctions in exchange for curbs to Iran’s nuclear programme.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday that Iran was still keeping to its commitments.

But the return of US sanctions has led most European firms to abandon projects in Iran and is already impacting its oil sales ahead of a second wave of measures targeting its energy industry in November.

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DIPLOMACY

Berlin police investigate ‘Havana syndrome’ sicknesses at US embassy

Police in Berlin have opened an investigation into unexplained sicknesses that have been affecting staff at the US embassy in the German capital.

The US embassy in Berlin.
The US embassy in Berlin. Photo: dpa-Zentralbild | Jens Kalaene

The investigation, which Berlin’s city authorities confirmed to Der Spiegel last week, comes after at least two members of staff at the embassy reported symptoms that correspond to the so-called Havana syndrome, an unexplained sickness that has been affecting US diplomats and spies across the globe since 2016.

The US embassy has reportedly handed over evidence to Berlin’s state detective agency.

The first cases were reported in Havana, the Cuban capital, where dozens of diplomats reported suffering nausea and headaches. There have since been cases reported in Vienna, Moscow and Singapore.

US authorities suspect that the condition is caused by a sophisticated attack using concentrated microwaves.

The fact that many of the diplomats and CIA agents affected were working on Russian affairs has led them to believe that Moscow is somehow involved – a charge that the Kremlin denies.

As far as this so-called ‘syndrome’ is concerned, US President Joe Biden has vowed to find out “the cause and who is responsible.”

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