Trump says US, Iran have 'sort of' agreed on terms for nuclear deal
Doha, May 15 (AP): President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States and Iran have “sort of” agreed to terms on a nuclear deal, offering a measure of confidence that an accord is coming into sharper focus.
Trump, in an exchange with reporters at a business roundtable in Doha, Qatar, described the talks between American envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as “very serious negotiations” for “long-term peace" and were continuing to progress.
Still, throughout his visit with Arab Gulf leaders this week, the president has underscored that military action against Iran's nuclear facilities remains a possibility if the talks derail.
“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms: They're not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust,” Trump said at the business event. “We're not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran.”
Without offering detail, he signalled growing alignment with the terms that he has been seeking.
But a top political, military and nuclear adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told NBC News on Wednesday that Tehran stands ready get rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium that can be weaponised, agree to enrich uranium only to the lower levels needed for civilian use and allow international inspectors to supervise the process.
Ali Shamkhani added that in return, Iran wants an immediate lifting of all economic sanctions.
Trump said his demands have been straightforward.
“They can't have a nuclear weapon. That's the only thing. It's very simple,” Trump said. “It's not like I have to give you 30 pages worth of details. It is only one sentence. They can't have a nuclear weapon.”
Wrapping up his time in Qatar, Trump stopped at a US installation at the centre of American involvement in the Middle East and spoke to US troops. The Republican president has used his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America's past in the region.
Al-Udeid Air Base was a major staging ground during the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The base houses some 8,000 US troops, down from about 10,000 at the height of those wars.
Trump told the troops that his “priority is to end conflicts, not start them.”
“But I will never hesitate to wield American power if it's necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners,” he said.
Trump has held up Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflict. He urged Qatari officials to use their influence to entice Iran to come to terms with his administration on a nuclear deal.
Trump later flew to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for the final leg of his trip. He visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the country's largest mosque. The UAE's founder, Sheikh Zayed, is buried in the mosque's main courtyard.
Trump will also be hosted for a state visit in the evening by UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Qasr Al Watan palace.
Earlier in the week, Trump met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and announced plans to ease sanctions on the war-torn country. The US has deployed more than 1,000 troops in Syria for years to suppress a return of the Islamic State group.
Trump praised al-Sharaa, who was tied to al-Qaida and joined insurgents battling US forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian civil war, after the two met in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. He called al-Sharaa a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”
It was a stark contrast from earlier years, when al-Sharaa was imprisoned by US troops in Iraq. Until December, there was a USD 10 million US bounty for his arrest.
Trump said that the opinions of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were big factors in his decision to lift sanctions on Syria.
“President Erdogan called me and said, 'Is there any way you could do that? Because if you don't do that, they don't have a chance,'" Trump said. “So, I did it.”
As he made his way to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Trump reminded reporters about President Joe Biden's 2022 fist bump with the Saudi crown prince, a moment roundly criticised by human rights activists already upset by the Democrat's decision to hold the meeting.
Trump noted that while in Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week, he had shaken many hands.
“They were starving for love because our country didn't give them love,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “They gave him a fist bump. Remember the fist bump in Saudi Arabia? He travels all the way to Saudi Arabia … and he gives him a fist bump. That's not what they want. They don't want a fist bump. They want to shake his hand.”
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
