BRUSSELS: Talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume on Thursday in Vienna, a senior European Union official said.
"The 7th round talks will continue tomorrow Thursday in Vienna after consultations in and among capitals," Enrique Mora, who is chairing the talks, said on Twitter. "A Joint Commission and a number of bilateral and multilateral contacts will take place."
France's foreign minister had said on Wednesday the talks were likely to continue, although he added that he feared Iran was playing for time.
Meanwhile, British foreign minister Liz Truss urged Iran on Wednesday to sign up to the 2015 nuclear deal, saying it was "the last chance" to do, just a day before talks were expected to resume.
"This is really the last chance for Iran to sign up and I strongly urge them to do that because we are determined to work with our allies to prevent Iran securing nuclear weapons," she told the Chatham House think tank.
"So they do need to sign up to the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) agreement, it's in their interests to do so."
SANCTIONS: The United States slapped fresh sanctions on a dozen Iranian officials and entities for "serious" human rights abuses Tuesday, ahead of the expected resumption of nuclear talks with Tehran after they halted last week without any concrete progress.
The sanctions announced by the Treasury and State Department targeted government officials and organisations involved in the repression of protesters and political activists, and prisons where activists have been held in brutal conditions.
The Treasury also placed several Syrian officials on its sanctions blacklist for their roles in political repression and chemical gas attacks, and Uganda's military intelligence chief was hit with sanctions for extreme abuse of people arrested for their nationality or political beliefs.
The announcement came ahead of the Washington-hosted Summit for Democracy later this week, billed as a push to promote more free and open societies.
"The United States is committed to promoting democracy and accountability for those who abuse human rights around the world," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement.
"The United States will utilize its full range of tools to highlight and disrupt these abuses of human rights," he said.
The Iranian sanctions singled out officials and entities involved in brutal crackdowns on protests in 2009 and 2019, including Hassan Karami, the commander of the LEF Special Units, which are focused on crowd control and protest suppression, the Treasury said.
Also named was Gholamreza Soleimani, who commands the Basij, the country's militia also involved in the deadly 2009 and 2019 crackdowns.
The Syrians blacklisted included two air force major generals, Tawfiq Muhammad Khadour and Muhammad Youssef Al-Hasouri, who the Treasury said were responsible for chemical gas attacks that killed numerous civilians in 2017 and 2018.
Security officials considered responsible for other harsh attacks on opponents of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad were also named. - AFP/Reuters
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