Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday questioned the “right” of the US and France to make fresh calls for a new nuclear deal, a day after Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that Iran would abandon the deal if the US also withdrew.
“Together with a leader of a European country they say: 'We want to decide on an agreement reached by seven parties'. What for? With what right?” Mr Rouhani said in a fiery speech.
"We have an agreement called the JCPOA," he said, in reference to the deal agreed by world powers in 2015 that sought to rein in Tehran’s nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.
"It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full".
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump hosted his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the White House. He described the deal as “insane” and “ridiculous” while Mr Macron said the agreement should impose tougher terms on Iran, such as a settlement in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar Al Assad.
Mr Trump is seeking a wider deal that will impede Iran’s ballistic missile production and support of proxy groups across the Middle East.
In his speech, the Iranian leader took aim at Mr Trump, who has long been a fierce critic of the agreement.
“You are just a businessman...you have no experience in politics or law or international agreements," he said. "How can he pass judgements on international affairs?”
His comments came as the European Union and Russia said there could be no such new deal.
______________
Read more:
Inside Trump's glamorous double date with the Macrons - in pictures
Can Macron’s White House visit save the Iran deal?
_______________
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the current Iranian nuclear deal must be upheld by all involved parties.
"On what can happen in the future we'll see in the future, but there is one deal existing, it's working, it needs to be preserved", the former Italian foreign minister said as she arrived for a donor conference on Syria in Brussels.
Moscow said, like the EU, it also remained in favour of the current nuclear agreement.
"We believe that no alternative exists so far", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
Macron has imaged himself as the closest European leader to Trump and the man to broker a compromise where the American leader can portray a diplomatic victory over Iran, while maintaining a deal that negates Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The next deadline for the renewal of the deal is May 12, and it remains unclear if the construction magnate turned politician will walk away from the deal. But his rhetoric made it clear that he remains unsatisfied with the current deal on the table.
"They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down," Mr Trump said.
He suggested that his predecessor Barack Obama and other world leaders should have struck an agreement that "covered Yemen, that covered Syria. No matter where you go in the Middle East, you see the fingerprints of Iran behind problems".
Trump's tough Iran stance has been praised by the Islamic Republic's arch-enemy, Israel, who says the nuclear deal threatens its national security by handing Iran billions of dollars in unfrozen assets. It is accused of funding militant groups opposed to Israel, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. It also has been accused of funding the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Macron did not go as far as Trump but said that he hoped "for now to work on a new deal with Iran". His expressed optimism, saying there was a "great shot" for a new accord between Washington and Tehran.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives in Washington on Friday and is widely expected to push for maintaining the current deal.
The hard-won nuclear deal, signed in July 2015, was the result of years of negotiation and thawed ties between the West and the Islamic Republic. Western nations had become concerned that Tehran had aims of developing a nuclear weapon.
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
SM Town Live is on Friday, April 6 at Autism Rocks Arena, Dubai. Tickets are Dh375 at www.platinumlist.net
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Afro%20salons
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFor%20women%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ESisu%20Hair%20Salon%2C%20Jumeirah%201%2C%20Dubai%3Cbr%3EBoho%20Salon%2C%20Al%20Barsha%20South%2C%20Dubai%3Cbr%3EMoonlight%2C%20Al%20Falah%20Street%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFor%20men%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMK%20Barbershop%2C%20Dar%20Al%20Wasl%20Mall%2C%20Dubai%3Cbr%3ERegency%20Saloon%2C%20Al%20Zahiyah%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3EUptown%20Barbershop%2C%20Al%20Nasseriya%2C%20Sharjah%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULTS
Bantamweight
Victor Nunes (BRA) beat Siyovush Gulmamadov (TJK)
(Split decision)
Featherweight
Hussein Salim (IRQ) beat Shakhriyor Juraev (UZB)
(Round 1 submission, armbar)
Catchweight 80kg
Rashed Dawood (UAE) beat Otabek Kadirov (UZB)
(Round-1 submission, rear naked choke)
Lightweight
Ho Taek-oh (KOR) beat Ronald Girones (CUB)
(Round 3 submission, triangle choke)
Lightweight
Arthur Zaynukov (RUS) beat Damien Lapilus (FRA)
(Unanimous points)
Bantamweight
Vinicius de Oliveira (BRA) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (RUS)
(Round 1 TKO)
Featherweight
Movlid Khaybulaev (RUS) v Zaka Fatullazade (AZE)
(Round 1 rear naked choke)
Flyweight
Shannon Ross (TUR) beat Donovon Freelow (USA)
(Unanimous decision)
Lightweight
Dan Collins (GBR) beat Mohammad Yahya (UAE)
(Round 2 submission D’arce choke)
Catchweight 73kg
Martun Mezhulmyan (ARM) beat Islam Mamedov (RUS)
(Round 3 submission, kneebar)
Bantamweight world title
Xavier Alaoui (MAR) beat Jaures Dea (CAM)
(Unanimous points 48-46, 49-45, 49-45)
Flyweight world title
Manon Fiorot (FRA) v Gabriela Campo (ARG)
(Round 1 RSC)
Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229
iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649
iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
Price: Dh3,179
Apple Watch Series 4
More comprehensive health device with edge-to-edge displays that are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
more from Janine di Giovanni
Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed auto
Power: 420 bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: from Dh293,200
On sale: now
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Jawab Iteiqal
Director: Mohamed Sammy
Starring: Mohamed Ramadan, Ayad Nasaar, Mohamed Adel and Sabry Fawaz
2 stars