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.
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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.
ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
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Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
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Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5
