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Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz gained more control over his faction on Thursday when his loyalist, Dr Akram Hasson, entered the Knesset in place of Gideon Ezra, who died of lung cancer after smoking heavily for 55 years.
Ezra was a top ally of Tzipi Livni, who could have joined a potential rebellion against Mofaz had he remained in the Knesset. Hasson ran Mofaz’s campaign in the Druse sector in both of his Kadima leadership races against Livni.
In a phone interview with The Jerusalem Post, Hasson praised Mofaz and his decision last week to bring Kadima into Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
„The Arab parties have made a mistake all these years by staying in the opposition and not joining the coalition where they could better serve their constituency,” Hasson said. „Only Kadima can really help the Druse sector.”
The Knesset now has a record six Druse representatives, with Hasson joining Majallie Whbee (Kadima), Ayoub Kara (Likud), Hamed Amar (Yisrael Beytenu), Shakib Shanan (Independence), and Said Nafa (Balad).
Ezra was a top ally of Tzipi Livni, who could have joined a potential rebellion against Mofaz had he remained in the Knesset. Hasson ran Mofaz’s campaign in the Druse sector in both of his Kadima leadership races against Livni.
In a phone interview with The Jerusalem Post, Hasson praised Mofaz and his decision last week to bring Kadima into Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
„The Arab parties have made a mistake all these years by staying in the opposition and not joining the coalition where they could better serve their constituency,” Hasson said. „Only Kadima can really help the Druse sector.”
The Knesset now has a record six Druse representatives, with Hasson joining Majallie Whbee (Kadima), Ayoub Kara (Likud), Hamed Amar (Yisrael Beytenu), Shakib Shanan (Independence), and Said Nafa (Balad).
PORT HARCOURT – A suspected armed robber was killed when explosives his gang was transporting accidentally went off in the center of Nigeria’s main oil city of Port Harcourt on Thursday, police said.
The blast ripped through a minibus carrying at least three suspected robbers, four AK-47 rifles and a large amount of ammunition, Rivers State Police Commissioner Mohammed Abdulkadir Indabawa told Reuters.
Two people in the bus and a woman who was nearby were injured in the explosion, he added.
„We suspect they were armed robbers going (on) an operation, and things went wrong for them,“ said Indabawa.
Port Harcourt is at the heart of Nigeria’s 2 million plus barrel a day (bpd) oil industry and has been plagued by militant groups and criminal gangs cashing in on the money it generates.
The blast ripped through a minibus carrying at least three suspected robbers, four AK-47 rifles and a large amount of ammunition, Rivers State Police Commissioner Mohammed Abdulkadir Indabawa told Reuters.
Two people in the bus and a woman who was nearby were injured in the explosion, he added.
„We suspect they were armed robbers going (on) an operation, and things went wrong for them,“ said Indabawa.
Port Harcourt is at the heart of Nigeria’s 2 million plus barrel a day (bpd) oil industry and has been plagued by militant groups and criminal gangs cashing in on the money it generates.
Mohammed Rashid, the former economic advisor to Yasser Arafat who is
wanted by the Palestinian Authority for embezzling hundreds of millions
of dollars, revealed Thursday that the PA had provided financial aid to Israeli
Arab parties during general elections in Israel.
He also demanded an investigation into the source of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s wealth.
Rashid, who is currently in London, said that Abbas used to „take millions of dollars from the Palestinian Authority and the private sector under the pretext of helping Arab parties in Israeli elections.“
Rashid, who is better known as Khaled Islam, did not name the Israeli Arab parties that received financial aid from Abbas.
Read the full story here.
He also demanded an investigation into the source of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s wealth.
Rashid, who is currently in London, said that Abbas used to „take millions of dollars from the Palestinian Authority and the private sector under the pretext of helping Arab parties in Israeli elections.“
Rashid, who is better known as Khaled Islam, did not name the Israeli Arab parties that received financial aid from Abbas.
Read the full story here.
BRASILIA – An oil spill was discovered off Brazil’s coast near the country’s Espirito Santo state, Brazil’s Navy said on Thursday.
The Navy said it has sent a team to investigate and has no immediate estimate of the spill’s size.
Oil workers returning home after work offshore said there was an oil stain „about 1 kilometer long“ on the ocean near the P-57 oil platform operated by Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, the Folha de S. Paulo daily newspaper reported.
Petrobras’ press office said it had no comment. Brazil’s oil regulator, the ANP, said officials were not immediately available for comment. Brazil’s environmental protection agency Ibama did not immediately return calls requesting comment.
The Navy said it has sent a team to investigate and has no immediate estimate of the spill’s size.
Oil workers returning home after work offshore said there was an oil stain „about 1 kilometer long“ on the ocean near the P-57 oil platform operated by Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, the Folha de S. Paulo daily newspaper reported.
Petrobras’ press office said it had no comment. Brazil’s oil regulator, the ANP, said officials were not immediately available for comment. Brazil’s environmental protection agency Ibama did not immediately return calls requesting comment.
WASHINGTON – Republican US presidential candidate Mitt Romney raised almost as much money as US President Barack Obama last month, taking in more than $40.1 million in fundraising efforts for his campaign and the Republican National Committee.
Romney’s April contributions, released on Thursday, are three times the amount the presumptive Republican nominee raised in March. The surge comes as other party rivals dropped out, allowing the former Massachusetts governor and business executive to team up with the RNC.
The figures come one day after the Obama campaign disclosed that it and the Democratic National Committee raised $43.6 million in April, a decline from the previous month.
In March, Romney raised $12.6 million compared to Obama’s more than $53 million.
Romney’s April contributions, released on Thursday, are three times the amount the presumptive Republican nominee raised in March. The surge comes as other party rivals dropped out, allowing the former Massachusetts governor and business executive to team up with the RNC.
The figures come one day after the Obama campaign disclosed that it and the Democratic National Committee raised $43.6 million in April, a decline from the previous month.
In March, Romney raised $12.6 million compared to Obama’s more than $53 million.
Former intelligence chief Meir Dagan joined forces with prominent international intelligence gurus to urge crippling sanctions against Iran in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday.
„Our near future carries the risk of a military conflict with Iran, or a nuclear arms race in the already-volatile Middle East,“ states the piece, co-authored by former CIA head James Woolsey, former German intelligence chief August Hanning, and military experts from the UK, UN and EU. „It is still possible to avoid these outcomes, but only if like-minded nations act immediately to deliver a potentially decisive economic blow to the regime.“
Specifically, the cadre called for clamping sanctions on all remaining Iranian banks, requiring greater disclosure from companies to expose their investments in the Islamic Republic, blocking international shipping to and from Iran and cutting ties with insurance and reinsurance companies that operate in Iran.
Enacting such measures, Dagan et al say, is the only way to put off military action against the Iranian nuclear program. „It’s common sense that before undertaking military action against a country, we should first try to dissuade it from its current course by applying decisive economic pressure.“
„Our near future carries the risk of a military conflict with Iran, or a nuclear arms race in the already-volatile Middle East,“ states the piece, co-authored by former CIA head James Woolsey, former German intelligence chief August Hanning, and military experts from the UK, UN and EU. „It is still possible to avoid these outcomes, but only if like-minded nations act immediately to deliver a potentially decisive economic blow to the regime.“
Specifically, the cadre called for clamping sanctions on all remaining Iranian banks, requiring greater disclosure from companies to expose their investments in the Islamic Republic, blocking international shipping to and from Iran and cutting ties with insurance and reinsurance companies that operate in Iran.
Enacting such measures, Dagan et al say, is the only way to put off military action against the Iranian nuclear program. „It’s common sense that before undertaking military action against a country, we should first try to dissuade it from its current course by applying decisive economic pressure.“
CAIRO – Israel has become a punchbag for politicians vying for votes in Egypt’s presidential race, playing on popular antipathy in Egypt towards its neighbor, but the realities of office are likely to ensure a 33-year-old peace treaty is not jeopardized.
An ex-air force commander in the race boasts of bringing down Israeli aircraft in 1973, the last of Egypt’s four wars with Israel. One Islamist often refers to Israel as the „Zionist entity,“ rather than by name, and describes it as an „enemy.“
A leftist candidate pledges to support the Palestinian resistance against Israel, where officials have watched Egypt’s political turmoil with increasing wariness after the downfall of Mubarak who oversaw a cold yet stable peace.
None of the candidates want to tear up the document signed in 1979 but they repeatedly warn in rallies and debates it should be reviewed. Many of them grumble at provisions in the US-brokered deal they say are biased in Israel’s favor.
An ex-air force commander in the race boasts of bringing down Israeli aircraft in 1973, the last of Egypt’s four wars with Israel. One Islamist often refers to Israel as the „Zionist entity,“ rather than by name, and describes it as an „enemy.“
A leftist candidate pledges to support the Palestinian resistance against Israel, where officials have watched Egypt’s political turmoil with increasing wariness after the downfall of Mubarak who oversaw a cold yet stable peace.
None of the candidates want to tear up the document signed in 1979 but they repeatedly warn in rallies and debates it should be reviewed. Many of them grumble at provisions in the US-brokered deal they say are biased in Israel’s favor.
WASHINGTON – An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander reportedly ordered Hezbollah not to attack Israel.
„Today, the Zionist regime is in total isolation and is facing a serious legitimacy crisis,“ Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ special Quds Force, is quoted as telling Hassan Nasrallah, the commander of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist group.
„Any attack would depict them as victims and us as unjust aggressors, which would mobilize the public sympathy for them,“ Suleimani is quoted as saying in remarks translated by Ali Alfoneh, an Iran expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank. „This would harm us.“
Alfoneh, writing Wednesday on the American Enterprise Institute blog, says the report originally appeared this week on the website of Botia News, a regional outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, and was picked up by other news outlets affiliated with the Guards.
„Today, the Zionist regime is in total isolation and is facing a serious legitimacy crisis,“ Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ special Quds Force, is quoted as telling Hassan Nasrallah, the commander of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist group.
„Any attack would depict them as victims and us as unjust aggressors, which would mobilize the public sympathy for them,“ Suleimani is quoted as saying in remarks translated by Ali Alfoneh, an Iran expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank. „This would harm us.“
Alfoneh, writing Wednesday on the American Enterprise Institute blog, says the report originally appeared this week on the website of Botia News, a regional outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, and was picked up by other news outlets affiliated with the Guards.
THE HAGUE – Prosecutors in the genocide trial of Serb general Ratko Mladic on Thursday described five days of terror in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995, when troops under his command massacred more than 7,000 unarmed Muslim boys and men.
Mladic, 70, sat listening with his back to the public after being warned at the start of his trial on Wednesday for making a throat-slitting gesture to a relative of Srebrenica victims.
The massacre, Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two, helped finally to galvanize Western powers into launching air strikes on Serb forces to bring the 1992-95 Bosnian war to an end.
„This was and will remain genocide,“ said prosecutor Peter McCloskey, showing grainy video footage of bodies outside a warehouse where about 1,000 prisoners were gunned down.
Mladic, 70, sat listening with his back to the public after being warned at the start of his trial on Wednesday for making a throat-slitting gesture to a relative of Srebrenica victims.
The massacre, Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two, helped finally to galvanize Western powers into launching air strikes on Serb forces to bring the 1992-95 Bosnian war to an end.
„This was and will remain genocide,“ said prosecutor Peter McCloskey, showing grainy video footage of bodies outside a warehouse where about 1,000 prisoners were gunned down.
A 23-year-old man indicted after a Haifa hit-and-run accident is to face additional charges after one of the victims died, the Haifa District Attorney announced on Thursday.
Moran Maron was originally charged earlier this month with abandoning an injured person and disrupting the investigation regarding the accident, in which an elderly woman and her daughter were injured.
The amended indictment charges Maron of causing death by negligence, which attracts a maximum three year prison term.
In a request to the court to add the new charge on Thursday, deputy Haifa district attorney Eran Bar On said that one of the two victims, 83-year-old Faina Feinzilberg, had died from her injuries in Haifa’s Rambam hospital on Wednesday. Since the accident, Feinzilberg had been kept under deep sedation and was on a respirator, Bar On said.
The accident, which happened last month in central Haifa, caused shock particularly after Haifa police revealed the perpetrators had removed the license plates from their car in order to make it difficult to locate them.
Moran Maron was originally charged earlier this month with abandoning an injured person and disrupting the investigation regarding the accident, in which an elderly woman and her daughter were injured.
The amended indictment charges Maron of causing death by negligence, which attracts a maximum three year prison term.
In a request to the court to add the new charge on Thursday, deputy Haifa district attorney Eran Bar On said that one of the two victims, 83-year-old Faina Feinzilberg, had died from her injuries in Haifa’s Rambam hospital on Wednesday. Since the accident, Feinzilberg had been kept under deep sedation and was on a respirator, Bar On said.
The accident, which happened last month in central Haifa, caused shock particularly after Haifa police revealed the perpetrators had removed the license plates from their car in order to make it difficult to locate them.
Physicians at Rambam Medical Center on Thursday finished treating a baby who was injured during the Jewish circumcision ceremony, Israel Radio reported.
Doctors said they successfully repaired the child’s genitals, after the Mohel conducting the ceremony – which occurs 8-days after the child’s birth, Sabbath-permitting – managed to overshoot and cut off a third of the baby’s organ.
The baby is in good conditions, physicians at Rambam said.
Doctors said they successfully repaired the child’s genitals, after the Mohel conducting the ceremony – which occurs 8-days after the child’s birth, Sabbath-permitting – managed to overshoot and cut off a third of the baby’s organ.
The baby is in good conditions, physicians at Rambam said.
Likud MK Danny Danon responded to the rape of a teenage girl in Tel Aviv last month, revealed by police on Thursday and allegedly carried out by illegal Eritrean migrants, saying the time had come for a „declaration of war“ against illegal infiltrators.
Danon, head of a Knesset caucus aimed at dealing with the problem of illegal infiltrators, said „it seems that an enemy state of infiltrators has been established inside Israel.“
He continued: „The time has come to declare war on this infiltrator state and to set a clear goal which must be attained – expulsion now! Before it is too late.“
Read full story here.
Danon, head of a Knesset caucus aimed at dealing with the problem of illegal infiltrators, said „it seems that an enemy state of infiltrators has been established inside Israel.“
He continued: „The time has come to declare war on this infiltrator state and to set a clear goal which must be attained – expulsion now! Before it is too late.“
Read full story here.
The new Palestinian cabinet sworn in this week is illegitimate and cannot hold or oversee elections, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri charged on Thursday.
„Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s call for municipal elections at this time is unacceptable,“ Zuhri said according to Hamas-affiliate Al-Resalah.
Zuhri slammed the PA for forming a new cabinet because it falls outside of the Doha agreement, signed by Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in the Qatari capital last February, which called for the formation of a „national consensus government to oversee elections.“
Hamas does not figure into the new Palestinian cabinet, underlining the failure of this past years so-called reconciliation agreements that sought to unify the schismatic Palestinian leadership in Gaza and the West Bank.
The new cabinet, under Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, is illegitimate to hold elections, Zuhri charged, accusing the new government of corruption.
Zuhri called on Abbas to honor the deal signed in Doha, and implement „what was listed“ as the formation of a national consensus government that will be responsible for conducting parliamentary and, eventually, presidential elections.
Read the full story here
„Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s call for municipal elections at this time is unacceptable,“ Zuhri said according to Hamas-affiliate Al-Resalah.
Zuhri slammed the PA for forming a new cabinet because it falls outside of the Doha agreement, signed by Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in the Qatari capital last February, which called for the formation of a „national consensus government to oversee elections.“
Hamas does not figure into the new Palestinian cabinet, underlining the failure of this past years so-called reconciliation agreements that sought to unify the schismatic Palestinian leadership in Gaza and the West Bank.
The new cabinet, under Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, is illegitimate to hold elections, Zuhri charged, accusing the new government of corruption.
Zuhri called on Abbas to honor the deal signed in Doha, and implement „what was listed“ as the formation of a national consensus government that will be responsible for conducting parliamentary and, eventually, presidential elections.
Read the full story here
ANKARA – The European Union has lost appeal for the Turkish people after years of stagnation in Ankara’s accession talks but a new „positive agenda“ launched on Thursday will aim to revive the process, the bloc’s enlargement chief said on Thursday.
In a bid to kick-start the flagging negotiations, EU enlargement chief Stefan Fuele and Turkish Minister for European Affairs Egemen Bagis announced the start of a „positive agenda“ at a conference in Ankara.
The initiative, which will create „working groups“ devoted to individual chapters with the goal of speeding up efforts to align Turkish policy with EU legislation, will not replace the existing process but would support it, Fuele said.
„The positive agenda should bring fresh dynamics and new momentum in our relations. Our aim is to keep the accession process alive … after a period of stagnation which has been a source of frustration for both sides,“ Fuele said.
In a bid to kick-start the flagging negotiations, EU enlargement chief Stefan Fuele and Turkish Minister for European Affairs Egemen Bagis announced the start of a „positive agenda“ at a conference in Ankara.
The initiative, which will create „working groups“ devoted to individual chapters with the goal of speeding up efforts to align Turkish policy with EU legislation, will not replace the existing process but would support it, Fuele said.
„The positive agenda should bring fresh dynamics and new momentum in our relations. Our aim is to keep the accession process alive … after a period of stagnation which has been a source of frustration for both sides,“ Fuele said.
BEIRUT – Syrian National Council President Burhan Ghalioun said on Thursday he was ready to quit, after mounting criticism of his leadership.
„I declare my resignation as soon as a replacement is found through elections or consensus,“ Ghalioun told Reuters.
„I declare my resignation as soon as a replacement is found through elections or consensus,“ Ghalioun told Reuters.
Three Eritrean migrants are under arrest for allegedly raping a teenage girl and assaulting her boyfriend near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station late last month, police revealed Thursday after a media ban on the case was lifted.
According to police, the couple had left a night club on Shivat Tzion Street in south Tel Aviv when they were set upon by three men. The men dragged them behind a building and two proceeded to rape the girl while her boyfriend was held down. The suspects also stole cell phones, a gold necklace and cash before fleeing the scene. They did not use weapons in the attacks.
The male victim was not seriously injured. Both of the victims are under 18. Two of the suspects are aged 18 and the third is 24-years-old.
Read full story here.
According to police, the couple had left a night club on Shivat Tzion Street in south Tel Aviv when they were set upon by three men. The men dragged them behind a building and two proceeded to rape the girl while her boyfriend was held down. The suspects also stole cell phones, a gold necklace and cash before fleeing the scene. They did not use weapons in the attacks.
The male victim was not seriously injured. Both of the victims are under 18. Two of the suspects are aged 18 and the third is 24-years-old.
Read full story here.
BAGHDAD – Iraq has summoned Ankara’s ambassador in Baghdad to protest the behavior of two Turkish diplomats, the latest episode in a drawn-out public row between the neighbors.
An official from Iraq’s foreign ministry met Turkey’s ambassador, Younis Demirer, to complain about the Turkish diplomats in the cities of Basra and Mosul, a statement on the foreign ministry website said on Thursday.
„Some activities conducted by the two Turkish General Consuls in Basra and Mosul … are far from their Consular duties and obligations stated in the Vienna Convention for Consular Relations of 1963,“ the statement said, without elaborating.
It said that the meeting took place on Tuesday but did not say what the diplomats were accused of.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki have traded tit-for-tat criticisms and accusations several times this year.
An official from Iraq’s foreign ministry met Turkey’s ambassador, Younis Demirer, to complain about the Turkish diplomats in the cities of Basra and Mosul, a statement on the foreign ministry website said on Thursday.
„Some activities conducted by the two Turkish General Consuls in Basra and Mosul … are far from their Consular duties and obligations stated in the Vienna Convention for Consular Relations of 1963,“ the statement said, without elaborating.
It said that the meeting took place on Tuesday but did not say what the diplomats were accused of.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki have traded tit-for-tat criticisms and accusations several times this year.
Egypt has resumed natural gas deliveries to Jordan, even as it has severed supplies to Israel and cancelled the gas sale contract with East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG), in which Yosef Maiman in a shareholder, Globes reported Thursday.
Until now, both Israel and Jordan were affected by the multiple attacks on gas pipelines in Sinai, which halted deliveries for 200 days in 2011, and stopped them almost entirely since the beginning of 2012. However, while deliveries to Jordan are due to resume this month, Israel will get nothing. The Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO) announced that deliveries to Jordan will gradually increase from 500 million cubic meters a year to more than 1.5 billion cubic meters (BCM)
Jordan consumes 3.5 BCM of natural gas a year, most of which is supplied by Egypt, under a 2002 agreement. Before the fall of the Mubarak regime in February 2011, Egyptian gas generated 80% of Jordan’s electricity, compared with 20% of Israel’s.
Until now, both Israel and Jordan were affected by the multiple attacks on gas pipelines in Sinai, which halted deliveries for 200 days in 2011, and stopped them almost entirely since the beginning of 2012. However, while deliveries to Jordan are due to resume this month, Israel will get nothing. The Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO) announced that deliveries to Jordan will gradually increase from 500 million cubic meters a year to more than 1.5 billion cubic meters (BCM)
Jordan consumes 3.5 BCM of natural gas a year, most of which is supplied by Egypt, under a 2002 agreement. Before the fall of the Mubarak regime in February 2011, Egyptian gas generated 80% of Jordan’s electricity, compared with 20% of Israel’s.
IDF troops arrested the 38-year-old director-general of the Palestinian Prisoner Channel from his home in the West Bank village of Marka on Thursday.
„The Israeli occupying forces raided the home of the director-general of the Palestinian Prisoner Channel, Mr. Baha Khairy Attalah Musa, who lived in the village of Marka located south of Jenin,“ a comment on the channel’s Facebook page announced shortly after 11:30 a.m.
During the raid of his home, IDF soldiers also confiscated computers and technical equipment used to broadcast the channel’s programs, according to the statement.
„The prisoners’ channel staff condemns this aggressive action by the brutal occupation, which will affect on the channel’s programming and its mission,“ the statement said, noting that the channel is an independent organization, and is unaffiliated with any political group.
The station called for Musa’s release, and „freedom for prisoners.“
Read the full story here
„The Israeli occupying forces raided the home of the director-general of the Palestinian Prisoner Channel, Mr. Baha Khairy Attalah Musa, who lived in the village of Marka located south of Jenin,“ a comment on the channel’s Facebook page announced shortly after 11:30 a.m.
During the raid of his home, IDF soldiers also confiscated computers and technical equipment used to broadcast the channel’s programs, according to the statement.
„The prisoners’ channel staff condemns this aggressive action by the brutal occupation, which will affect on the channel’s programming and its mission,“ the statement said, noting that the channel is an independent organization, and is unaffiliated with any political group.
The station called for Musa’s release, and „freedom for prisoners.“
Read the full story here
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili warned Thursday that applying pressure on the Islamic Republic in upcoming nuclear talks would not impede Iran’s nuclear progress, but rather it would serve to encourage Tehran to localize nuclear technology.
Representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers held talks on Iran’s controversial nuclear program in Istanbul on April 14 and were scheduled to meet again on May 23 in Baghdad.
On Thursday, Press TV quoted Jalili as saying that the Baghdad talks must seek „cooperation“ based on respect for the rights of the Iranian nation. He rejected the notion that time was running out for dialogue.
„Today, what is running out is the time for applying pressure and this approach has failed to bear results,” Jalili stated.
Read full story here.
Representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers held talks on Iran’s controversial nuclear program in Istanbul on April 14 and were scheduled to meet again on May 23 in Baghdad.
On Thursday, Press TV quoted Jalili as saying that the Baghdad talks must seek „cooperation“ based on respect for the rights of the Iranian nation. He rejected the notion that time was running out for dialogue.
„Today, what is running out is the time for applying pressure and this approach has failed to bear results,” Jalili stated.
Read full story here.
