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The stalemate of Vienna nuclear talks

However, now, four months after the talks were stopped and three months after Ebrahim Raisi took office in Iran, apparently the talks are at a complete standstill, and it is not even possible to set a date for the resumption of the talks. Meanwhile, the main parties of the talks, the United States, and Iran have accused each other of stalling the talks.
On the Iranian side, although Ali Khamenei is the primary decision-maker since he does not want to take responsibility for the consequences of his decisions, he avoids making public comments on the negotiations and has left it to Raisi’s administration.
But Raisi and his negotiating team are also in a very difficult situation. On the one hand, Iran desperately needs the lifting of sanctions in order to sell oil and to get access to its blocked money to inject some kind of relief to the catastrophic economic situation that has caused inflation to rise above 50% and the majority of people to be pushed below the poverty line, causing public discontent and dissatisfaction.
On the other hand, they know any setbacks and concessions in these negotiations will lead to further setbacks not only in the nuclear program but also in long-range missile production, human rights violations regime's terrorist activities, and adventurous interventions in the region.
Submission to any of these demands will have serious consequences and could bring the regime to the verge of collapse.
As a result, by killing time they are trying to advance their nuclear program as much as they can, and by increasing the enriched uranium stockpile well above their commitment under the JCPOA accord, as well as raising the enrichment level to 60%, and imposing various access restrictions on monitoring their nuclear activities at various sites, including on the cameras installed by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and also fostering news that the time required to build an atomic bomb has been reduced to a few weeks they want to indirectly put pressure on the United States and Europe to give in to their demands and lift the sanctions imposed by Trump without introducing new issues.

As Rafael Grossi, Director General of IAEA, in his report to IAEA Board of Governors mentions; “the Islamic Republic of Iran has refused to answer the IAEA's questions and ambiguities, leaving the IAEA unable to carry out its mission. That is, to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.”.
Meanwhile, Iran is counting on creating a rift between the United States and Europe and is banking on Europe’s desire to lift the sanctions so it can both import oil and gas from Iran and enter again in Iran’s profitable market.
To this end, each time Iran has set different conditions for the resumption of negotiations. For example, at first, they asked all sanctions to be lifted and after it was verified, then they would resume the talks.
But when the United States did not give in to this request, it dropped that condition, and the regime's foreign minister, Abdullahian, raised the issue of releasing $ 10 billion of Iranian frozen assets as a goodwill sign to return to negotiations.
But when confronted again with a negative response from the United States, in order to deny responsibility for the stalemate, the spokesman for the regime's foreign ministry said that Iran had not set any preconditions for the talks, and thus withdrew from that condition too.
Iran’s latest tactic to create a rift between the United States and other JCPOA members was to propose negotiations in Brussels instead of Vienna, where the United States is not present. But European countries, realizing that the Iranian regime is no longer able to impose its conditions on them, rejected this offer and threatened that they might consider referring Iran's nuclear dossier to the Board of Governors if Iran did not return to its commitments to verify its nuclear program. In a way, they warned the regime that the time for negotiations was coming to an end. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called Iran's nuclear program unprecedentedly dangerous and called the rescue of the nuclear deal a critical moment.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also said during a visit to Israel that if the talks fail, all options will be on the table, which clearly meant a military option. Meanwhile, President Biden's special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, traveled to Iran's southern neighbors and held talks on the nuclear issues and Iran’s meddling in the region with United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia representatives, then he traveled to Paris and met with representatives of Britain, France, and Germany and negotiated and discussed alternative plan B.
In other words, in the next step, Iran will be condemned for violating the JCPOA in the IAEA’s meeting of the Board of Governors, and Iran's nuclear file will be returned to the Security Council. In that case, in addition to re-imposing all the UN sanctions on Iran under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the United States will be free to take military action against the regime's nuclear facilities.
The question now is how to get this situation out of the impasse and prevent Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb?
Pro-appeasement politicians want to make concessions to the regime, that is, lift sanctions, in the hope that they can prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon under the JCPOA agreement, arguing that since Trump's withdrawal from JCPOA, Iran has gotten closer to the acquirement of a nuclear weapon and if United States had not withdrawn from JCPOA, Iran would not be at this stage now to have advanced centrifuges and to store this amount of enriched uranium.
But these politicians do not pay attention to the fact that the regime is not trustworthy at all, and according to regime officials such as Ali Akbar Salehi, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, they secretly pursued their nuclear program even before Trump left the JCPOA. Therefore, any agreement with this regime based on trusting them is fundamentally doomed to fail, because this regime considers the acquisition of nuclear weapons as a guarantee of its survival and follows the North Korean model, and only waits for the right time to pass its final stages of atomic bomb testing.
If we proceed in the same way Iran will certainly acquire nuclear weapons, which would be a disaster not only for the people of Iran and the region but for the whole world.
The only real way to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state is to stand with the people of Iran and support their quest for regime change. A free, democratic, and nuclear-free Iran is what the people of Iran genuinely want, and expect the international community to echo their wishes and help them make it a reality.
This is the overwhelming desire of the Iranian people which was clearly and peacefully expressed by boycotting the recent sham presidential election.
by: Cyrus Yaqubi
Cyrus Yaqubi is a Research Analyst and Iranian Foreign Affairs Commentator investigating the social issues and economy of the Middle East countries in general and Iran in particular.
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BENEFIT AGM approves 10%...
- March 27, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).
Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.
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