Positive atmosphere but little progress in Iran nuclear talks
BERLIN — Nascent talks aimed at bringing the United States back into the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran broke Friday without any immediate signs of progress on the thorny issues dividing Washington and Tehran, but with delegates talking of a constructive atmosphere and resolving to continue the discussions.
Two working groups that have been meeting in Vienna since Tuesday to brainstorm ways to secure the lifting of American sanctions and Iran’s return to compliance with the deal reported their initial progress to a joint commission of diplomats from the world powers that remain in the deal — France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia.
Russian delegate Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted that participants had “noted with satisfaction the initial progress made.”
“The commission will reconvene next week in order to maintain the positive momentum,” he said Friday.
The talks took place without the United States, which unilaterally left the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018, under then-President Donald Trump.
He embarked on a campaign of “maximum pressure” by restoring previous sanctions and adding new ones on Iran.
But an American delegation headed by the Biden administration’s special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, also has been in the Austrian capital this week. Representatives from the other world powers have been shuttling between the U.S. and the Iranians to facilitate indirect talks.
After the U.S. withdrawal,
Iran has been openly violating the deal’s restrictions, steadily increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium, increasing the purity it is enriching, and installing and operating new, more efficient centrifuges, among other things.
President Joe Biden, who was vice president under Barack Obama when the original deal was negotiated, has said he wants to bring the U.S. back into the deal but that Iran must reverse its violations.
A South Korean oil tanker held for months by Iran amid a dispute over billions of dollars seized by Seoul was freed and sailed away early Friday, just hours ahead of further talks between Tehran and world powers over its tattered nuclear deal.
MarineTraffic.com data showed the MT Hankuk Chemi leaving Bandar Abbas in the early morning hours. By Friday afternoon, it was off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates, having passed safely through the Strait of Hormuz.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Iran released the tanker and its captain after seizing the vessel in January.
The ministry says the Hankuk Chemi left an Iranian port around 6 a.m. local time after an administrative process.
Iran had accused the Hankuk Chemi of polluting the waters in the crucial Strait of Hormuz. But the seizure was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Seoul to release some $7 billion in Iranian assets tied up in South Korean banks amid heavy American sanctions on Iran.
Iran frees SKorean ship:
New violence in Myanmar:
Security forces in Myanmar cracked down heavily again Friday on protesters against the military’s seizure of power, even as the ruling junta downplayed reports of state violence.
Reports on online news outlets and on social media said at least four people were killed in Bago, about 60 miles northeast of Yangon, in an attack by government troops and police that began before dawn and continued sporadically until after dark.
At least 614 protesters and bystanders have been killed by security forces through Thursday, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors casualties and arrests.
At a news conference in the capital, Naypyitaw, a spokesman for the ruling junta defended the actions of the security forces.
Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, when asked about reports that automatic weapons have been fired at protesters, replied that if that were
the case, 500 people would have been killed in just a few hours.
He challenged the death toll issued by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners and said the government’s tally was 248. He also said 16 policemen had been killed.
Fukushima water release:
The Japanese government has decided to dispose of massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water stored in tanks at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant by releasing it into the Pacific Ocean, local media reported Friday, a conclusion widely expected but delayed for years amid protests and safety concerns.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told top fisheries association officials Wednesday that his government believes the release into the sea is the most realistic option and that a final decision would be made “within days.”
A formal announcement is expected soon at a meeting
of key ministers, Industry Ministry officials said Friday. They declined to confirm reports from Kyodo News and other media that the ministers will meet as early as Tuesday and have already reached a final decision.
Caribbean volcano erupts:
An explosive eruption rocked La Soufriere volcano Friday on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent after the government ordered thousands to evacuate their homes nearby.
Experts said the ash column rose more than 20,000 feet and the majority of the ash was headed northeast into the Atlantic Ocean.
However, heavy ashfall also was reported in communities around the volcano and beyond, with authorities saying some evacuations were limited by poor visibility.
Several flights also were canceled, and islands including Barbados, St. Lucia and Grenada prepared
for light ashfall as the 4,003-foot volcano continued to rumble. Authorities reported a second, smaller explosion Friday afternoon.
A trio of Russian and American space travelers launched successfully and reached the International Space Station on Friday.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov blasted off at 12:42 p.m. local time aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft from the Russialeased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan.
They docked at the station after a two-orbit journey that lasted just over three hours.
It is the second space mission for Vande Hei and the third for Novitskiy and first for Dubrov.
The launch came three days before the 60th anniversary of the first human flight to space by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin..
3 dock at space station: