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IRAN HAS SAID it will no longer abide by any of the limits of its unravelling 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after a US air strike killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad.
It ends an accord that blocked Tehran from having enough material to build an atomic weapon.
The announcement came tonight after another Iranian official said it would consider taking even harsher steps over the US killing of General Qassem Soleimani on Friday.
Hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets in Iran on Sunday to walk alongside a casket carrying the remains of General Soleimani, the former leader of its expeditionary Quds Force that organises Tehran’s proxy forces in the wider Mideast.
The leader of one such proxy, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, said General Soleimani’s killing made US military bases, warships and service members spread across the region fair targets for attacks.
A former Revolutionary Guard leader suggested the Israeli city of Haifa and centres like Tel Aviv could be targeted.
Iran’s state TV cited a statement by President Hassan Rouhani’s administration saying the country will not observe limitations on its enrichment, the amount of stockpiled enriched uranium as well as research and development in its nuclear activities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations watchdog observing Iran’s programme, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran said its co-operation with the IAEA “will continue as before”.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s Parliament voted in favour of a resolution calling for an end of the foreign military presence in their nation, an effort aimed at expelling the 5,000 US troops stationed there over the war against the so-called Islamic State.
General Soleimani’s killing has escalated the crisis between Tehran and Washington after months of trading attacks and threats that have put the wider Middle East on edge.
The conflict is rooted in US President Donald Trump pulling out of Iran’s atomic accord and imposing sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
Iran has promised “harsh revenge” for the US attack, which shocked Iranians across all political lines.
After thousands in Baghdad on Saturday mourned General Soleimani and others killed in the strike, authorities flew the general’s body to the south-western Iranian city of Ahvaz.
An honour guard stood by early on Sunday as mourners carried the flag-draped coffins of Gen Soleimani and other Guard members off the Tarmac.
His remains will go to Tehran and Qom tomorrow for public mourning processions, followed by his hometown of Kerman for burial on Tuesday.
Gen Soleimani will lie in state at Tehran’s Musalla mosque on Monday.
Iranian officials planned to meet tonight to discuss taking a fifth step away from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, one that could be even greater than planned, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told journalists.
“In the world of politics, all developments are interconnected,” Mousavi said.
Iran previously has broken limits of its enrichment, its stockpiles and its centrifuges, as well as restarted enrichment at an underground facility.
The Iranian Parliament on Sunday opened with politicians in unison chanting: “Death to America!”
Parliament speaker Ali Larijani compared General Soleimani’s killing to the 1953 CIA-backed coup that cemented the shah’s power and to the US Navy’s shooting of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988 that killed 290 people.
He also described American officials as following “the law of the jungle”.
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Should be sanctioned just like Russia.
Occupation breeds resistance
Ireland
Palestine
Ukraine
@Liam Ó hAodha: Ireland isn’t occupied anymore though
@Ciaran: spoken like a true southerner.
@Brian MacCarthaigh: a true partitionist more like. They are a minority in south but highly vocal.
@Liam Ó hAodha: it only in Ukraine that resistance fighters are hailed. In Ireland and Palestine they are “ terrorists”.
@M Bowe: bombing civilians is pretty much terrorism in anyones book ..
@Ciaran:
Wow! Does your ignorance knows any bounds
@M Bowe: Provo criminals and Hamas are terrorists, only a few days ago marked the 50th Anniversary of one of the darkest days of the Troubles, when in a barbaric spree of hate & sectarianism, the Provos detonated 22 bombs inside 75 minutes, murdering 9 innocent people and injuring 130 more. Pure terrorism.
@Ciaran: and I’d say you think the Old IRA who freed this country are heroes. I think they were by the way. But how were they any better than the Provos?
@Sumsoar Khan: military targets v civilian targets. The provos always say it was a war. Ok if it’s considered a war then bombing civilians is a war crime. Puts them at the same level as isis and Russia right now..
@M Bowe: you’re massively mistaken if you think we are in the minority. Their are a lot of us that would rather it stay the same, than have to deal with the mess that would be left if the brits release control of the 6 counties. You lads think it’s going to be a great party when the day comes. Thousands up north will fight till their last breath before their will be peace. And this time it won’t be a conflict that will limit itself to the 6 counties.
@Ciaran: Name a conflict/war in which civilian populations weren’t bombed intentionally or unintentionally?
War is savage and brutal but mostly started by a select few international land grabbers
@Liam Ó hAodha: of course , bombs at shopping centres and highly populated civilian centres where there are no military targets or “the enemy” completely justified then…f00l
@M Bowe: let’s call a spade a spade and call it for it is. If you deliberately target civilians as the IRA did then that is terrorism.
hamas and the IRA fit that description.
@Martin O Connell: the people of the north and the Republic of Ireland had a vote. It’s called the good Friday agreement where the majority of the north wanted to stay with the uk until such time they want to join the south.
@Stephen Kearon:
Hamas is the democratically elected government in Gaza.
It was only designated as “terrorist” by Apartheid Israel after it won the election.
The terrorists are thrisraeli government and its henchmen.
@Stephen Kearon: your opinions are as relevant as my last fart,and that dissipated hours ago.
@Martin O Connell: so you are gonna stay on your knees in face of unionist/ British threats of immediate and terrible war, the same terrorist threat which gave birth to that failed sectarian state 100 years ago.
@Alan Richard Scott Jr.: as British did in Ballymurphy and Derry in previous 10 months of Black Friday. No one side of any war can claim the moral high ground on actions.
@M Bowe: I’m not on my knees to anyone. Thanks to Michael Collins and all that negotiated the treaty, I never will be on my knees.
@M Bowe: your last fart probably came out your mouth.
In context could you imagine the SAS going into Dublin to arrest “suspected terrorist’s” and murdering 2 people. It’s wrong ,it’s illegal and they should be sanctioned by the rest of the world.
Typical.
have your say