Ireland was selected to facilitate the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the agreement’s other signatories by the United Nations Security Council this week.
Geraldine Byrne Nason, Ireland’s permanent representative to the UN will be responsible for updating the Council on the agreement, and any plans by the U.S. to re-engage with the deal.
U.S. President Joe Biden has said Washington would seek to strengthen and lengthen nuclear restrictions on Iran’s government and would return to the deal once Iran had resumed compliance with the agreement.
In a rare interview, a cleric in Tehran called for an end to the tensions between Israel and Iran.
Speaking to Israel’s channel 12 news, Abdol-Hamid Masoumi-Tehrani said the Iranian regime had invented enemies that didn’t exist and that Iranians did not have a problem with Israel or any country around the world.
A former Ayatollah, Masoumi-Tehrani was stripped of his title by Iran’s government for disagreeing with the regime’s policies. He has also openly criticized Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who he has said would destroy Iran and religion within the country.
Masoumi-Tehrani, who advocates for the separation of church and state, minority rights, and the right to protest against the government, has been jailed several times for his opposition to Khamenei’s appointment and public criticism of Iran’s government.
And Iran’s Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said a U.S.-Iranian had been arrested on spying charges.
The man, who has not been formally identified, is believed to be businessman Emad Shargi, after Iran’s media reported that Mr. Shargi had been arrested after trying to cross a border illegally while out on bail.
Shargi was charged with espionage, convicted without trial and sentenced to ten years in prison, despite being acquitted of the same offense last year. Members of Mr. Shargi’s family said they had not heard from him for more than six weeks.
