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Iran, US hold talks in Oman

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MUSCAT: The United States wants a nuclear agreement “as soon as possible”, Iran said after rare talks on Saturday, as US President Donald Trump threatens military action if they fail to reach a deal. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who briefly spoke face-to-face with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff during the indirect meeting in Oman, said the talks would resume next Saturday.

“The American side also said that a positive agreement was one that can be reached as soon as possible but that will not be easy and will require a willingness on both sides,” Araghchi told Iranian state television. “At today’s meeting, I think we came very close to a basis for negotiation… Neither we nor the other party want fruitless negotiations, discussions for discussions’ sake, time wasting or talks that drag on forever,” he added.

Oman’s foreign minister acted as intermediary in the talks in Muscat, Iran said. The Americans had called for the meetings to be face-to-face. However, the negotiators also spoke directly for “a few minutes”, Iran’s foreign ministry said. It said the talks were held “in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere”.

The long-term adversaries, who have not had diplomatic relations for more than 40 years, are seeking a new nuclear deal after Trump pulled out of an earlier agreement during his first term in 2018. Araghchi, a seasoned diplomat and key architect of the 2015 accord, and Witkoff, a real estate magnate, led the delegations in the highest-level Iran-US nuclear talks since the previous accord’s collapse.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meets Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi in Muscat on April 12, 2025.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meets Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi in Muscat on April 12, 2025.

The two parties were in “separate halls” and were “conveying their views and positions to each other through the Omani foreign minister”, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X. The process took place in a “friendly atmosphere”, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi said.

Iran is seeking relief from wide-ranging sanctions hobbling its economy. Tehran has agreed to the meetings despite baulking at Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign of ramping up sanctions and repeated military threats. Meanwhile the US, hand-in-glove with Iran’s archenemy the Zionist entity, wants to stop Tehran from ever getting close to developing a nuclear bomb.

There were no visible signs of the high-level meeting at a luxury hotel in Muscat, the same venue where the 2015 agreement was struck when Barack Obama was US president. Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal earlier that the US position starts with demanding that Iran completely dismantle its nuclear program — a view held by hardliners around Trump that few expect Iran to accept.

“That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries,” Witkoff told the newspaper. “Where our red line will be, there can’t be weaponization of your nuclear capability,” he added. Hours before they began, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country. But they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s adviser Ali Shamkhani said Iran was “seeking a real and fair agreement”. The 2015 deal that Trump abandoned aimed to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb, while at the same time allowing it to pursue a civil nuclear program. Iran, which insists its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes, stepped up its activities after Trump withdrew from the agreement.

On Friday, Witkoff wrapped up his latest talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, after Trump urged his Russian counterpart to move quicker to end what he said was the country’s “senseless war” with Ukraine. Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree a ceasefire deal but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin, despite repeated negotiations between Russian and US officials.

“Russia has to get moving,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that the conflict, which began in Feb 2022 when Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, was “senseless” and “should have never happened”. Kyiv and several of its Western allies suspect Russia of stalling the talks on purpose. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of dragging Beijing into the conflict and on Friday claimed that hundreds of Chinese nationals were fighting at the Ukraine front line alongside Russian troops.

Trump’s post came just before Witkoff’s meeting with Putin at the presidential library in Saint Petersburg, which state news agencies said lasted four and a half hours. The Kremlin said afterwards only that the meeting had taken place and “focused on various aspects of the Ukrainian settlement”, without elaborating. Witkoff, who visited a synagogue in St Petersburg earlier on Friday, went to Oman on Saturday for talks with Iran.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said earlier that he expected no diplomatic “breakthroughs” from the talks — Witkoff’s third with Putin since February. He also said “maybe” to a question about whether a possible meeting between Putin and Trump would be discussed. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, suggested British and French troops could adopt zones of control in the country, in an interview with The Times published Saturday.

Kellogg suggested they could have areas of responsibility west of the Dnipro river, as part of a “reassurance force”, with a demilitarized zone separating them from Russian-occupied areas in the east. “You could almost make it look like what happened with Berlin after World War II,” he told the British newspaper. “I was speaking of a post-ceasefire resiliency force in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty. In discussions of partitioning, I was referencing areas or zones of responsibility for an allied force (without US troops),” he said later on X.

Kyiv said last week that its forces had captured two Chinese nationals in the eastern Donetsk region fighting for Moscow. The Kremlin denied the claim, while Beijing warned parties to the conflict against making “irresponsible remarks”. “As of now, we have information that at least several hundred Chinese nationals are fighting as part of Russia’s occupation forces,” Zelensky told military chiefs from allied countries in Brussels. “This means Russia is clearly trying to prolong the war — even by using Chinese lives.” – Agencies

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Kuwait Commerce Min.: Protecting industrial system is Nat’l responsibility

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 KUWAIT: Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Chairman of the Public Authority for Industry (PAI) Khalifa Al-Ajeel said on Monday that protecting the commercial and industrial system is a “national responsibility that requires concerted efforts.”

Minister Al-Ajeel emphasized in a statement to KUNA following an extensive inspection campaign in the south Amghara scrap yard, to “firmly deal with all violations and encroachments in accordance with legal frameworks where no one is above the law.”

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Al-Ajeel confirmed the continuation of inspection campaigns as well until the desired goals are reached, foremost being is restoring order and discipline to the area and removing all violations and encroachments.

He affirmed the ministry and the PAI’s commitment to cooperating with relevant authorities to continue these campaigns to ensure a safe and organized industrial and commercial environment.

The campaign resulted in the seizure of several violations and closure of several non-compliant units in preparation for taking necessary legal action against their exploiters.

Participating in the campaign was General Fire Force (KFF) Chief Major General Talal Al-Roumi, along with several executive leaders from the PAI. — KUNA

 

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Human Rights Committee session begins with focus on Gaza, regional challenges

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CAIRO: The 56th regular session of the Arab Permanent Committee for Human Rights commenced on Monday with the participation of Kuwait and representatives from Arab states concerned with human rights affairs. In his opening address, Ahmed Maghari, supervisor of the Human Rights Department at the League of Arab States, underscored the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, calling it a stark indicator of the region’s human rights reality. “We cannot speak of the state of human rights without acknowledging the catastrophic conditions faced by our brothers in Gaza, where securing the most basic necessities has become a matter of survival,” he said. Maghari described the ongoing Zionist aggression in Gaza as a profound moral and humanitarian challenge, noting that the Palestinian people continue to endure daily suffering under constant bombardment, displacement and destruction. He lamented the international community’s continued inaction in the face of clear violations of international law and human rights norms. “The occupying power persists in defying international legitimacy and the decisions of the General Assembly, the Security Council, and the International Court of Justice,” he said.

Held at a time of mounting regional tensions, the session comes amid escalating challenges that directly affect fundamental human rights. Maghari highlighted the Committee’s historic role since its establishment in 1968 in developing the Arab human rights framework both legally and practically, while also fostering cooperation with regional and international partners. He expressed hope that the session would yield effective recommendations to help confront the pressing challenges in the region. He pointed to the rise of conflicts and violence globally, along with the resulting serious human rights violations, as major concerns.

Emerging issues such as the intersection of human rights with climate change, artificial intelligence, and the spread of alien ideologies that undermine human dignity were also noted. “In light of these challenges, we must reinforce our solidarity and collective action to enhance peace, stability, and the security of our societies,” Maghari added. The two-day session, chaired by Ambassador Talal Al-Mutairi, Chairman of the Arab Permanent Committee for Human Rights, will review the General Secretariat’s report on the implementation of previous recommendations up to the 55th session.

Discussions will also focus on Zionist violations in occupied Arab territories, the plight of Arab prisoners and detainees in Zionist prisons, and the issue of the bodies of Palestinian and Arab martyrs held in so-called “numbered cemeteries.” Other agenda items include the Arab Charter on Human Rights and preparations for Arab Human Rights Day, which will be observed on March 16, 2026. Kuwait is represented at the meeting by a delegation led by Assistant Foreign Minister for Human Rights Affairs Ambassador Sheikha Jawaher Ibrahim Al-Duaij Al-Sabah.— KUNA

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Crown Prince receives Egyptian Deputy PM

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KUWAIT: His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah received on Tuesday at Bayan Palace the Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Transport and Industry, Lieutenant General Kamel Abdulhadi Al-Wazir, and his accompanying delegation on the occasion of their official visit to the country. The meeting was attended by Kuwait’s Minister of Public Works Dr Noura Al-Mashaan and Egypt’s Ambassador to Kuwait Osama Shaltout.– KUNA photos

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