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Sunday, April 20, 2025 | Daily Newspaper published by GPPC Doha, Qatar.
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Region

In this handout video grab taken from a footage released by the Italian Foreign Ministry yesterday, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (right) shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi at the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome before the nuclear talks.

US, Iran to hold more N-talks after latest round

The United States and Iran concluded a second round of high-stakes talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme yesterday, agreeing to meet again in a week for further discussions.The Oman-mediated talks in Rome lasted about four hours, Iranian state television reported, describing the atmosphere as “constructive”.“The two sides agreed to resume indirect talks at a technical level over the next few days and subsequently continue at the level of two senior negotiators next Saturday, April 26,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on X.Oman said the third round would be in Muscat, returning to the site of the first talks a week ago.Those were the first discussions at such a high level between the nations since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018.Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons - an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.After yesterday’s talks, Oman’s foreign ministry said Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had agreed to keep negotiating.The talks, it said, “aim to seal a fair, enduring and binding deal which will ensure Iran (is) completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions, and maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy”. It said the talks are “gaining momentum and now even the unlikely is possible”.Araghchi called the discussions a “good meeting” that yielded progress.“This time we managed to reach a better understanding on a series of principles and goals,” he told Iran’s state TV.Baqaei said the delegations had been “in two different rooms” at the Omani ambassador’s residence, with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi passing messages between them.Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran’s 1979 revolution. After returning to office in January, Trump revived his “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against Iran.In March he wrote to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging renewed nuclear talks while also warning of military action if diplomacy failed.“I’m not in a rush” to use the military option, Trump said Thursday. “I think Iran wants to talk.” On Friday, Araghchi said Iran “observed a degree of seriousness” on the US side during the first round but questioned their “intentions and motivations”.In an interview published on Wednesday by French newspaper Le Monde, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb.During Trump’s first term, Washington withdrew from the 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers that offered Iran relief from international sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. Tehran complied with the agreement for a year after Trump’s withdrawal before scaling back its compliance.Araghchi was a negotiator of the 2015 deal. His US counterpart, Witkoff, is a real estate magnate Trump has also tasked with talks on Ukraine.Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60%, far above the 3.67 percent limit in the deal but still below the 90% threshold required for weapons-grade material.On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged European countries to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.The option to trigger the mechanism expires in October.Iran has previously warned it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the mechanism were triggered.

Gulf Times

Kuwait, Egypt stress need to adhere to three-phase Gaza ceasefire agreement

Kuwait and Egypt have stressed the need to adhere to the three-phase Gaza ceasefire deal reached through joint efforts by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States of America and announced in Doha on January 19.The two sides have expressed their condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli occupation's violation of this agreement and the resumption of hostilities in the Gaza Strip.This came in a joint Kuwaiti-Egyptian statement at the conclusion of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's visit to Kuwait, during which he held talks with HH Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.The two sides have stressed the need to stop targeting civilians and facilitate safe, adequate, and sustainable access to humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, in implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions, the latest of which is Resolution 2720.They also affirmed their rejection of the Israeli occupation's continued military operations and warned of the dire humanitarian consequences that would result from the danger of Israeli practices, which would expand the conflict and threaten the security and stability of the region and international peace and security.Regarding bilateral relations, Kuwait and Egypt have agreed to advance economic, investment, and trade relations between the two countries. The Kuwaiti side expressed its intention to invest in the Egyptian economy in the fields of energy, agriculture, industry, information technology, real estate development, the banking sector, and the pharmaceutical industry.The two sides praised the remarkable progress in relations between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Egypt and affirmed their commitment to strengthening the political consultation mechanism between them, the last of which was held in Mecca on March 6, 2025.They have affirmed the importance of announcing the formation of a transitional government in Syria, emphasizing the importance of fulfilling the aspirations and hopes of the Syrian people for a secure life.The two sides have welcomed the end of the presidential vacancy crisis in Lebanon, which represented a pivotal step toward completing the country's remaining political deadlines. They also emphasized the need to support the Sudan's national institutions and reject any unilateral measures that could threaten its unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

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