Iran Cancels Atomic Energy Briefing With U.S. Tension Simmering
Iran postponed indefinitely a briefing by its atomic energy spokesman that was planned for Saturday.
(Bloomberg) -- Iran postponed indefinitely a briefing by its atomic energy spokesman that was planned for Saturday as the country grapples with a plane-crash investigation and growing tensions with the U.S. after the killing of a top general in Iraq.
The briefing by Behrouz Kamalvandi was canceled due to media requests for a delay, the ministry of culture said in a statement.
Kamalvandi was expected to comment on the future of the country’s nuclear program after the Islamic Republic vowed to stop abiding by all restrictions on its uranium enrichment following last week’s killing of General Qassem Soleimani.
Iran is planning on Saturday to explain why a Ukrainian plane crashed just as the Islamic Republic was launching rockets against U.S. bases in Iraq. The U.S. and Canada have said the plane was downed by Iranian weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
Iran’s decision to not abide by the nuclear agreement has whittled away at what’s left of a 2015 accord, which lifted sanctions on the country in return for caps on its nuclear program. U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from that agreement in 2018. Since then, relations between the U.S. and Iran have deteriorated.
To contact the reporters on this story: Yasna Haghdoost in Beirut at yhaghdoost@bloomberg.net;Robert Tuttle in Calgary at rtuttle@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, James Ludden
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