Sept. 24 – Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Truss urged Tehran to release all arbitrarily detained nationals in Iran and to return to talks in Vienna about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
During the meeting, Amir-Abdollahian called on the UK to repay a $557 million debt owed to Iran. The minister also said that Tehran would return to the nuclear deal once the country’s new government had finalized its approach to the negotiations, in a separate meeting at the assembly with Ireland’s Foreign Minister.
The US and the UK held secret talks about Iran last week, according to a report by news outlet Axios.
The talks explored alternative plans in the event that Tehran decided not to return to the nuclear deal, including the imposition of additional sanctions.
Discussions were held by a working group called “Opal” which was established by former US president Barack Obama to enable Washington and Jerusalem to discuss strategy towards Iran.
And Shahin Naseri, an Iranian man who testified in court that executed wrestler Navid Afkari had been tortured in prison, has died under mysterious circumstances.
Sources close to the family said prison authorities had confirmed his death, and had launched an investigation. Prior to his death, Naseri said he had faced threats after submitting his testimony for Afkari’s case to a judge.
Afkari was hanged on Sept. 12 last year following a forced confession in which he said he had murdered Hassan Turkman during the 2018 anti-government protests. Naseri’s passing is the fourth suspicious death to take place in an Iranian prison this month.
