Iran nuclear deal only offers modest boost to oil supply - Bloomberg

Cécile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been held in Iran since May 2022 on espionage charges that Paris has strongly denied.

French authorities accuse Tehran of subjecting the couple to conditions akin to torture in Tehran’s Evin prison and failing to provide consular access.

“I can confirm that France will bring a case before the International Court of Justice tomorrow,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine.

Iranian state television previously broadcast videos of the two appearing to confess, but France has denounced the footage as the result of forced confessions.

Earlier in the month, French President Emmanuel Macron has referred to the couple as “hostages” and vowed to secure their release, as France and other EU states accuse Iran of engaging in “hostage diplomacy” by detaining foreign nationals to extract political concessions.

An unknown number of international citizens are being held by Tehran, including Europeans.

In January, the European Parliament adopted a motion for a resolution condemning Iran’s detention of European Union citizens, labelling the practice as “hostage diplomacy.”

Iran has denied mistreatment or political motives in the detentions, although reports by rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented the practice extensively, including the use of forced confessions.

A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that the United States is too weakened to confront Iran militarily or defeat regional groups such as Hamas.

Speaking at a memorial ceremony in eastern Iran, IRGC Deputy Commander Brigadier General Ali Fadavi accused Washington of decades of failure in the region.

“The United States could not even eliminate a small group like Hamas,” he said. “Its inability is now clear to the whole world.”

Fadavi also blamed the US for fueling regional conflicts, saying that the Islamic State (ISIS) originated “from within America” and was defeated by Iran-backed forces in Syria and Iraq.

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The head of Iran’s paramilitary Basij organization, Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, has dismissed remarks by former US President Donald Trump during his Middle East visit, calling them “nonsense aimed at demoralizing the Iranian people.”

“A man has come from the other side of the world to speak in Arab countries. Who can deny the capabilities and resources of the Iranian nation?” Soleimani said on Thursday.

“These absurd comments are meant to discourage our people. We must instead inject hope with such programs,” he added.

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A meeting between representatives of the E3 group (Germany, France, and the UK) and Iran is scheduled for May 16 in Istanbul to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program, a German diplomatic source told Iran International on Thursday.

“These are not negotiations,” the source stressed, adding that Germany will be represented by Dominik Mutter, Political Director at the Federal Foreign Office.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week, “We remain ready to talk to Europe, even if their own policies have led to some isolation in these negotiations."

There are still gaps to bridge in nuclear talks with the United States, an Iranian source familiar with negotiations told Reuters.

“The issue is that America is not willing to lift major sanctions in exchange,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.

While Iranian officials have expressed a willingness to reduce enrichment levels and lower their stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the source noted that Tehran wants reductions to happen in stages — a proposal the US has not agreed to.

The source also cited disagreement over where Iran’s enriched uranium would be sent under a possible deal.