A sixth eye
On 20 November 2024, Japan hosted a gathering of senior enlisted members from the Five Eyes intelligence partnership in Tokyo.
Amidst rising tensions between Iran and US, the middle eastern country has said that it has made no plans for President Hassan Rouhani to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly, a spokesman said Monday.
“We have neither planned for this meeting, nor do I think such a thing would happen in New York,” the foreign ministry’s Abbas Mousavi said in remarks aired on state television. However, the White House said on Sunday that Trump may still meet Rouhani at the UN meeting in New York next week, despite accusations from Washington that Tehran was behind weekend drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.
“As we have stated before, if the Americans return to the JCPOA and cease their economic terrorism, they can return to the joint commission and talk,” Mousavi added. He was referring to a commission within the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a 2015 agreement that gave Iran the promise of relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.
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Tensions between the two countries have soared since Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the JCPOA in May last year and began reimposing crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic.
European countries have been trying to salvage the nuclear accord and de-escalate the situation with French President Emmanuel Macron leading the efforts. Macron even proposed a meeting between Rouhani and Trump to defuse the crisis.
But the recent drone attack on Saudi oil facilities by Iran backed Houth rebels of Yemen has again added fuel to fire. The Trump administration intensified its focus on Iran after the attacks on world’s largest oil refinery in Saudi Arabia over the weekend. With officials citing intelligence assessments to support the accusation and President Donald Trump warning that he was prepared to take military action.
(With inputs from AFP)
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