Saudi Arabia hajj disaster death toll at least 2,121

Iran and Saudi Arabia are deeply divided on a host of regional issues and back opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, since March.

The crush and stampede that struck the hajj last month in Saudi Arabia killed at least 2,121 pilgrims, a new Associated Press tally showed Monday, after officials in the kingdom met to discuss the tragedy.

The toll keeps rising from the Sept. 24 disaster outside Mecca as individual countries identify bodies and work to determine the whereabouts of hundreds of pilgrims still missing. The official Saudi toll of 769 people killed and 934 injured has not changed since Sept. 26, and officials have yet to address the discrepancy.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdul Aziz, who is also the kingdom's interior minister, oversaw a meeting late Sunday about the disaster in Mina, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. The agency's report did not mention any official response to the rising death toll.

"The crown prince was reassured on the progress of the investigations," the SPA report said. "He directed the committee's members to continue their efforts to find the causes of the accident, praying to Allah Almighty to accept the martyrs and wishing the injured a speedy recovery."

King Salman ordered the investigation into the disaster, the deadliest in the history of the annual pilgrimage. It came after a crane collapse in Mecca earlier that month killed 111 worshippers, and the twin disasters marred the first hajj to be overseen by the king since he ascended to the throne at the start of this year.

The Saudi king holds the title of "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques," and the monarchy's supervision of the hajj is a source of great prestige in the Muslim world. Riyadh has rejected a suggestion by Shiite power Iran, its main regional rival, to have an independent body take over planning and administering the five-day hajj pilgrimage, which is required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their lifetimes.

Iran has repeatedly blamed the disaster on the Saudi royal family, accusing it of mismanagement and of covering up the real death toll, which Tehran says exceeds 4,700, without providing evidence.

"The lying and hypercritical bodies, which claim to (be promoting) human rights, as well as the Western governments, which sometimes make great fuss over the death of a single person, remained dead silent in this incident in favor of their allied government," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday, according to a transcript on his website.

"If they were sincere, these self-proclaimed advocates of human rights should have demanded accountability, compensation, guarantee for non-recurrence and punishment for the perpetrators of this catastrophe."

Iran and Saudi Arabia are deeply divided on a host of regional issues and back opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, since March.

Saudi Arabia has meanwhile been targeted in gun and bomb attacks by an affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group, which holds a third of Iraq and Syria in its self-declared "caliphate." Like al-Qaida before it, the IS group views the Saudi royal family as illegitimate because of alleged corruption and its alliance with the United States.

The count of the dead from the Mina crush and stampede comes from state media reports and officials' comments from 30 of the over 180 countries that sent citizens to the hajj.

Iran leads all the affected countries, saying it had 465 pilgrims killed. Many of the dead also came from Africa. Nigeria said it lost 199 people, while Mali lost 198, Cameroon lost 76, Niger lost 72, Senegal lost 61, and Ivory Coast and Benin both lost 52.

Others include Egypt with 182, Bangladesh with 137, Indonesia with 126, India with 116, Pakistan with 102, Ethiopia with 47, Chad with 43, Morocco with 36, Algeria with 33, Sudan with 30, Burkina Faso with 22, Tanzania with 20, Somalia with 10, Kenya with eight, Ghana and Turkey with seven, Myanmar and Libya with six, China with four, Afghanistan with two and Jordan and Malaysia with one.

The previous deadliest-ever incident at hajj was a 1990 stampede that killed 1,426 people

‪#‎Merkel‬ says military efforts needed in ‪#‎Syria‬ but they won't end war

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a German radio station that military efforts were necessary in Syria even though they would not put an end to the war there.

"Regarding Syria, I said for the first time: We will need military efforts, but military efforts will not bring the solution; we need a political process but that has not really got going very well yet," she told Deutschlandfunk, according to the text of an interview due to be broadcast later on Sunday.

She also said it would be necessary to involve the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in talks.

"To get to a political solution, I need both the representatives of the Syrian opposition and those who are currently ruling in Damascus and others as well to get real successes and then above all the allies of the respective groups."

She said Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Iran could play an important role as well as Germany, France and Britain.

‪#‎Iran‬ says partisanship damaging US foreign policy

Iran Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham

The fevered partisanship of US politics is damaging the country's foreign policy, Iran said Saturday, hitting out at threats of military action against it should nuclear diplomacy ultimately fail.

The comments in Tehran came after US President Barack Obama said in a letter that all options remain on the table against Iran.

Iran and six world powers led by the US struck a deal last month on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme but it is undergoing a bruising review in Congress and has yet to be implemented.

"Political partisanship and competition have taken US foreign policy hostage," foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said, calling Obama's remarks "repetitive and baseless".

These claims are "showing the uncertainty and depth of confusion of American officials in determining their national interests," Afkham said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

The US president said in a letter to Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat who has announced his support for the deal, that the agreement is good for America, Israel and the Middle East in general.

"We have a wide array of unilateral and multilateral responses that we can employ if Iran fails to meet its commitments," Obama said.

"All of the options available to the United States -- including the military option -- will remain available through the life of the deal and beyond," he added.

Israel, which Iran does not recognise as a state, has been the biggest opponent of the nuclear deal, claiming that it paves the way to Tehran obtaining a nuclear bomb.

Obama has said the deal does precisely the opposite, and Iran denies seeking an atomic weapon.

If Congress chooses to reject the deal, Obama will still be able to veto the move as long as Republicans fail to obtain a two thirds majority against it.

#Iran, world powers seek to finalise nuclear deal

Iran and major powers held a second day of talks Thursday seeking to finalise a historic deal that would make any attempt by Tehran to make a nuclear weapon extremely difficult and easily detectable.

Meeting in Vienna, Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany want to turn a framework accord reached in Switzerland on April 2 into a full agreement by June 30.

Iran, which denies wanting the atomic bomb, is set to scale down its nuclear programme for 10 to 15 years or more, depending on the area of activity, and allow closer UN inspections.

The exact details of how this will work in practice, and in particular the scale and timeframe under which the powers will lift painful sanctions, still need to be nailed down, and experts warn it will be a difficult process.

The powers want to retain the ability to "snap back" the sanctions if Iran violates the agreement, and among the issues to be worked out in Vienna are a so-called dispute resolution procedure in case of problems.

The deal, if it can be finalised and made to work, could put an end to a 12-year-old crisis and potentially pave the way for a thawing of US-Iranian ties, although this makes other countries in the Middle East uneasy.

US Republicans and Israel, the volatile region's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state, fear the mooted accord will be too weak and that when its provisions expire -- at the deal's "sunset" -- Iran will again be on the threshold of getting the bomb.

The talks involved senior EU diplomat Helga Schmid, representing the P5+1 group, and Abbas Araghchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, as well as experts from all six powers and Tehran.

Other officials including US Under Secretary Wendy Sherman were due to join the talks later.

#Iran halts #Saudi pilgrimages over sex assault allegation

Two Egyptian Muslim pilgrims pray as other pilgrims circle the Kaaba in the Holly City of Mecca

Iran has suspended pilgrimages to the Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia in protest at an alleged sexual assault attempt against two teenage Iranian boys, the culture minister said Monday.

According to Iranian media reports, two Saudi police are alleged to have attempted to assault the youngsters at Jeddah airport as they prepared to fly home from a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina two weeks ago.

In addition to the annual hajj, which was held most recently last October, Muslims also undertake the lesser pilgrimage or umrah throughout the year.

"I have ordered the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation to suspend the lesser pilgrimage until the criminals are tried and punished," Culture Minister Ali Jannati told state television.

All pilgrimages by Iranians to the Muslim holy places fall under the organisation's auspices and each year around 500,000 perform the umrah.

President Hassan Rouhani tasked Jannati with drawing up a response amid a mounting outcry in Iran over the allegations.

Hundreds demonstrated outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Saturday.

"Considering what has happened, Iranians' dignity has been damaged and a public demand has formed," the minister said.

Jannati said the Saudi authorities had arrested the two police officers at the centre of the allegations.

"We have spoken to Saudi officials through diplomatic channels and they have promised to punish the persons in custody," he said.

"They even asserted that they would execute them but nothing has been done in reality so far."

The outcry over the allegations comes with relations between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia already tense over the Saudi-led air war against Shiite rebels in Yemen.

Tehran has condemned the Saudi-led campaign and has strongly denied Riyadh's accusations that it has armed the rebels.

Breaking : #US warns Iran on support for #Yemen's #Houthis

US Secretary of State John Kerry walks outside the hotel during a break after a bilateral meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Lausanne, Switzerland, Thursday March 26, 2015

Washington warned Thursday it would not "stand by" while Iran supports rebels in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition pounded anti-government forces at the start of a third week of bombings.

In the most direct US criticism yet of Tehran's backing of the Shia Houthi rebels, Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington would not accept foreign interference in Yemen.

"There have been -- there are, obviously -- flights coming from Iran. Every single week there are flights from Iran and we've traced it and know this," Kerry told PBS television in an interview.

"Iran needs to recognise that the United States is not going to stand by while the region is destabilised or while people engage in overt warfare across lines, international boundaries in other countries."

The United States has backed the Saudi-led campaign, which launched air strikes last month as the rebels advanced on Yemen's main southern city of Aden after seizing the capital Sanaa.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled Aden for Saudi Arabia during the Houthi advance and the city has since seen heavy clashes between pro- and anti-government forces.

Riyadh has accused Tehran, the major Shia power, of backing the rebels in a bid to establish a pro-Iran state on its doorstep.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif insisted his government wanted a swift end to the fighting, which has cost more than 640 lives since March 19, according to the World Health Organization.

Kerry, fresh from world powers striking a framework agreement with Iran on its nuclear programme, said Washington was not looking for confrontation with Tehran.

"But we're not going to step away from our alliances and our friendships and the need to stand with those who feel threatened as a consequence of the choices that Iran might be making."

In another sign of growing US support for the Saudi effort, the Pentagon said it had started daily aerial refuelling for warplanes in the coalition.

The first refuelling flight took place on Tuesday night with a US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker providing fuel for a F-15 fighter jet operated by Saudi Arabia and an F-16 flown by the United Arab Emirates, spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.

"We will have a tanker sortie every day," Warren said, adding that all flights will be outside of Yemeni air space.

The air strikes killed at least 14 rebel fighters in Aden overnight Thursday at positions near the northern edge of the city, a source in pro-government forces told .

Air strikes also hit a military camp in the southern Shabwa province that was seized by the Houthis' main allies -- security forces who have remained loyal to former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, a local official said.

The official had no information on casualties among the forces loyal to Saleh, who has been accused of joining with the Houthis after being ousted from power in 2012 after an Arab Spring-inspired uprising.

Yemen has been wracked by conflict since Saleh's ouster, with Hadi unable to assert government authority in a deeply tribal country riven by divisions.

As well as the Houthis, who hail from Yemen's north, the government has struggled against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), considered the most dangerous of the jihadist network's branches.

Authorities in Yemen had for years allowed Washington to carry out a drone war against AQAP but US forces pulled out of the country amid the latest unrest.

Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the chaos to seize control of some areas and carried out a series of deadly attacks on both government forces and the Houthis.

As the fighting and air campaign drag on, concern has been growing for what aid workers say is a mounting humanitarian crisis.

Some aid trickled in to Aden by ship on Wednesday but efforts by the International Committee of the Red Cross to organize flights of cargo planes into Sanaa have so far failed.

In Aden, witnesses have said the situation is dire, with bodies lying in the streets and mosques calling through loudspeakers for help.

Diplomatic efforts have stepped up to resolve the conflict, with the Iranian and Pakistani foreign ministers pledging at talks in Islamabad on Wednesday to work to find a negotiated solution.

Zarif laid out a four-stage plan for talks, calling for an immediate ceasefire followed by humanitarian assistance, dialogue among Yemenis and the formation of an "all-inclusive government".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also quoted Thursday as calling for a regional effort to end the fighting.

"The groups in Yemen should meet and work on possible solution. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran should be involved in efforts for a diplomatic solution," Erdogan was quoted as saying by Turkish media.

Official : Arab states see a month of Yemen strikes, maybe longer

People watch a vehicle which belonged to Shi'ite Muslim rebels burn during clashes in Aden March 26, 2015

An Arab alliance attacking Shi'ite Muslim Houthi forces in Yemen initially plans a month-long campaign, but the operation could last five or six months, a Gulf diplomatic official said on Saturday.

The official, from a country that belongs to the alliance, said Shi'ite Iran, the Houthis' main foreign ally, was likely to retaliate indirectly, by encouraging pro-Iranian Shi'ite activists to carry out armed attacks in Bahrain, Lebanon and eastern Saudi Arabia.

Iran, in a tug-of-war with Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia for influence across the Middle East, has denied supporting the Houthis militarily, and has criticised the Gulf Arabs for their military action.

Since the Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against them early on Thursday, the Houthis, seeking to overthrow the Western- and Saudi-allied President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, have continued to make gains.

But the official, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the attacks would go on until Yemen was able to resume a U.N.-backed political transition interrupted by the Houthis' seizure of Sanaa in September.

He said Gulf Arab concern over the Houthis' influence in Yemen had been heightened in January by satellite imagery showing Houthi forces repositioning long-range Scud missiles in northern districts near the Saudi border.

The Scuds, with a range of between 250 km (150 miles) and 650 km (400 miles), were aimed northwards at Saudi territory.

He said Yemen's military had about 300 Scuds, the bulk of which were believed to be in the hands of the Houthis and allied military units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and that the campaign so far had destroyed 21 of them.

Struggle For Stability

Yemen, by far the poorest country on the Arabian peninsula, has struggled to regain stability since mass protests in 2011 that eventually unseated Saleh after 33 years in power. Hadi led a national dialogue that was discussing a new constitution when the Houthis took the capital and pushed him aside.

The Gulf diplomatic official said the coalition would not accept that the Houthi "coup" had succeeded, and wanted Yemenis to push for a resumption of the U.N.-backed process.

He said it could take five or six months for the campaign's aims to be realised, but there was room for everyone, including Houthis, in that process of forging a new constitution.

The official said Houthi forces were being trained and supported on the ground by about 5,000 experts from Iran and its regional allies, the Hezbollah group in Lebanon and Iraqi Shi'ite militias.

He said the Houthis were today a "quintessentially Yemeni tribal" movement, but with a few years of Iranian training would become a more formidable force, capable of ruling much of the country.

It was widely recognised that Hadi lacked a significant power base, the official said.

But Arab states supported Hadi as he was Yemen's legitimate head of state and had a role as a temporary, transitional figure leading the U.N.-backed reform process, which was meant to shepherd Yemen to stability after decades of autocracy followed by political upheaval.

Saleh's political party called on Friday for a cessation of hostilities by both sides, a statement carried by the party's website said. The Gulf diplomatic official welcomed that, but said it would be good to hear Saleh say it in his own words. 

BREAKING: Officials : #Yemen president flees #Aden home

UPDATED: Warplanes attack Yemen presidential palace as Hadi leaves Aden:Reports

Other presidential sources insist Hadi remains in Aden, leading battles against advancing Houthi militants; the Shia rebels say they arrested Hadi's defence minister, offer large bounty for capturing Hadi

Yemen President Abdo Rabby Mansour Hadi

Warplanes launched three rocket attacks on Wednesday afternoon against the presidential palace in Aden, several hours after Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi fled the city as Houthi militias close in on the southern capital, Sky News Arabia reported .

Sources in presidential guard also confirmed that Hadi left Aden, by helicopter, accompanied by diplomats from Saudi Arabia, from the Maasheeq presidential palace.

However, other presidential sources- speaking to the independent Yemen Today news website- denied that Hadi fled Aden.

Hadi, according to these sources, is still leading the armed resistance against the Shia militants.  

Meanwhile, Houthi rebels offered a 20 million Yemeni rial ($100,000) as a bounty for capture of embattled president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, reported Yemen telivision in the Shia-controlled capital of Sanaa.

Sky News Arabia also reported that Yemen's defence minister Major-General Mahmoud al-Subaihi has been arrested on Wednesday in Aden by advancing Shia Houthi militants,  

The news network did not provide further details on the whereabouts of al-Subaihi, or the air attacks against the presidential palace.

Five officials had earlier told The Associated Press that Yemen's embattled president has fled his Aden home for an undisclosed location as Shia rebels near his last refuge. The officials spoke to the AP just hours after the rebels' own television station said they seized an air base where US troops and Europeans advised the country in its fight against al-Qaida.

That air base is only 60 kilometers (35 miles) away from Aden, the port city where president Hadi had established a temporary capital.

Two US government sources had told Reuters on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen. 

USA removed Iran and Hezbollah of terrorism lists - أمريكا تحذف إيران وحزب الله من قوائم الإرهاب

حذف تقرير سنوي صادر حديثًا عن مدير الاستخبارات الوطنية الأمريكية، إيران وحزب الله اللبناني، من قائمة التحديات "الإرهابية" التي تواجه الولايات المتحدة، وفقًا لما ذكرته سكاي نيوز.

التقرير الذي قدمه مدير الاستخبارات جيمس كلابر إلى مجلس الشيوخ الأمريكي، صدر في 26 فبراير الماضي، ونشرته صحيفة "تايمز أوف إسرائيل"، أشار إلى أن سبب حذف إيران، جهودها في محاربة تنظيم "داعش".

وذكر التقرير حزب الله مرة واحدة، في إشارة إلى التهديدات التي يواجهها من جماعات متشددة، مثل "داعش" و"جبهة النصرة"، بينما أدان طهران فقط لدعمها نظام الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد.

وفي التقرير السابق لكلابر الصادر في 2014، أدرج مدير الاستخبارات إيران وحزب الله ضمن قسم "الإرهاب"، موضحًا أنهما "يستمران في تهديد مصالح حلفاء الولايات المتحدة بشكل مباشر، وحزب الله زاد من نشاطه الإرهابي الدولي خلال السنوات الأخيرة لدرجة لم نلحظها منذ التسعينيات".

كما أن إيران كانت مدرجة في قسم "الإرهاب" في نسخ أعوام 2011 و2012 و2013 من التقرير ذاته.

an annual report issued recently by the US Director of National Intelligence, Delete  Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, from the list of "terrorism" challenges facing the United States, according to Sky News.

Report submitted by the Intelligence Director James Clapper to the US Senate, was released on 26 February, and published by "The Times of Israel" newspaper, pointed out that the reason for deleting Iran, is an efforts to fight "ISIS"

Report mentioned Hezbollah only once, in reference to the threats faced by the militant groups, such as "ISIS" and "Front victory," while only condemned Tehran for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

In the previous report to Clapper, issued in 2014, included intelligence Iran Director and Hezbollah under the "terrorism" section, explaining that they "remain dominant in the threat to the interests of the allies of the United States directly, and Hezbollah has increased the international terrorist activity in recent years to the point that they did not notice it since the nineties."

Iran also was included in the "terrorism" section in copy of the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 from the same report.

EU to host Iran nuclear talks in Brussels on Monday

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif (C) gesture as they arrive to resume nuclear negotiations in Montreux, in this March 2, 2015

The European Union will host talks in Brussels Monday with the British, French, German and Iranian foreign ministers on Tehran's contested nuclear programme as a deadline at the end of March nears.

EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini will lead the talks, a statement said, one day after US Secretary of State John Kerry meets his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Switzerland as part of continued Western efforts to ensure Tehran does not acquire a nuclear weapon.

"It is the first time talks at this level are being held in Brussels," a Commission spokeswoman said.

"They are part of the effort (with) the deadline approaching; we are doing everything we can," the spokeswoman said.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and his French and German counterparts Laurent Fabius and Frank-Walter Steinmeier are also due to attend an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels Monday.

The EU has helped mediate talks between the five UN permanent Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany and Iran.

They began in late 2013 after Iran agreed to initial limits on its nuclear programme in return for an easing of some of the damaging economic sanctions imposed by the West.

The negotiations have been extended twice but all sides say this will be the last round, having set a March 31 deadline for a political deal.

A final accord has to follow by the end of June.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian use only.

#Russia to build two more #nuclear reactors for #Iran

Russian-built Bushehr plant

Russia signed Tuesday a contract to build two nuclear reactors in Iran and announced plans for a total of nine, less than two weeks before a deadline on for deal on the country's disputed atomic programme.

A series of agreements signed during a visit to Moscow by Iran's nuclear programme chief Ali Akbar Salehi includes a contract for two new reactors at the existing Russian-built Bushehr plant.




The agreements foresee increasing the total number of Russian-built reactors in the country to nine as well as possibly transferring some sensitive technology relating to the production of fuel rod components.

The announcement comes amid last-minute diplomacy before a November 24 deadline to find a solution to ease Western suspicions over Tehran's nuclear intentions as well as damaging sanctions on the Iranian economy.


 
The contract is for the construction of two reactors at the same Gulf coast site as the existing 1,000 megawatt reactor at Bushehr that Russia launched last year.

Construction of the two reactors will be bankrolled by Iran, said Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom.

No value for the contract was disclosed.

Another agreement foresees eventually expanding the number of Russian-built reactors to nine.


 
In addition to the contract for the two reactors at Bushehr under the so-called Phase II of the project, another two could be built at the site, taking the total there to five.

Rosatom said another four similar units could be built at a site that Tehran has yet to decide upon.

Iran plans to build 20 more nuclear plants in the future, including four in Bushehr, to decrease its dependence on oil and gas.


 
Salehi praised the agreement as a "turning point" for Russia-Iran relations.

"These acts of friendship by Russia will remain in our memory," he said at the signing ceremony, according to Russian news agency RIA-Novosti.

The nuclear project "will be under the IAEA safeguards and fully meet the nuclear nonproliferation regime," Rosatom said.

Nuclear fuel will be produced in Russia through the entire life cycle of the eight plants and spent fuel returned to Russia.

However Rosatom also announced plans to look into ways of producing fuel rod components for the project in Iran.

The countries "plan to go into the issue of economic expediency and feasibility of fabricating fuel rod components in Iran, which will be used at these power units," it said.


 
Fuel rods used at Bushehr contain Russian low-enriched uranium. It was not clear whether Russia is considering switching to uranium enriched in Iran.

At the heart of the thorny nuclear talks between Tehran and six world powers, including the United States and Russia, is Iran's capability to enrich uranium.


 
Tehran argues it is needed to be able to reliably power Bushehr and other eventual reactors, but Israel and Western powers fear Iran will use the technology to enrich uranium to the much higher levels used to make an atomic bomb.

The 5+1 group, which also includes China, Britain, France and Germany, want Iran to reduce the scope of its enrichment capability in exchange for easing biting economic sanctions imposed since 2012.



Tehran agreed under an interim deal reached last year to halt enrichment in exchange for unblocking frozen oil revenues.

Iran and world powers met in Muscat Tuesday amid growing signs that a long-bargained deal on Tehran's nuclear drive will not be struck by the November 24 deadline.




The meetings followed a meeting Monday between Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry in an effort to narrow their differences but which ended with no signs of progress as both delegations indicated that big obstacles still remain.