IRAN’S TOP PRIORITY TO PROTECT NUCLEAR DEAL FROM US - ROUHANI

TEHRAN: Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday the top foreign policy priority for his new government was to protect the nuclear deal from being torn up by the United States. “The most important job of our foreign minister is first to stand behind the JCPOA, and not to allow the US and other enemies to succeed,” Rouhani told parliament, using the technical name for the 2015 deal that eased sanctions in exchange for curbs to Iran’s nuclear program. “Standing up for the JCPOA means standing up to Iran’s enemies,” he said on the last day of debates over his cabinet selections. Rouhani indicated a week ago that Iran was ready to walk out on the nuclear deal if the United States continued to apply fresh sanctions. It has come under mounting pressure after Tehran carried out

4 DEAD IN SKOREA SHIPYARD BLAST

SEOUL: Four workers were killed Sunday in an explosion at an oil tanker being built in a South Korean shipyard, authorities said. Fire officials said the workers were painting the interior of the tanker at an STX Offshore & Shipbuilding plant in the southeastern city of Changwon and died almost instantly. The bodies of the victims, in their 30s to 50s, have been recovered and salvage crews were trying to determine the cause of the accident. “I heard a ‘ bang’ and saw smoke coming from the tanker,” a witness told Yonhap news agency. The 74,000- tonned oil tanker was scheduled to be delivered to a Greek shipping company in October, according to Yonhap. South Korea is one of the world’s largest shipbuilders.