DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran executed a second prisoner on Monday convicted over crimes dedicated through the nationwide protests difficult the nation’s theocracy, publicly hanging him from a building crane as a ugly warning to others.

The execution of Majidreza Rahnavard got here lower than a month after he allegedly fatally stabbed two members of a paramilitary drive after purportedly turning into indignant about safety forces killing of protesters.

The growth underscores the velocity at which Iran now carries out dying sentences handed down for these detained in the demonstrations that the federal government hopes to place down.

Activists warn that at the least a dozen individuals have already got been sentenced to dying in closed-door hearings. At least 488 individuals have been killed for the reason that demonstrations started in mid-September, in keeping with Human Rights Activists in Iran, a gaggle that’s been monitoring the protests. Another 18,200 individuals have been detained by authorities.

Iran’s Mizan information company, which falls underneath the nation’s judiciary, printed a collage of pictures of Rahnavard hanging from the crane, his palms and ft certain, a black bag over his head.

Masked safety drive members stood guard in entrance of concrete and metallic boundaries that held again a gathered crowd early Monday morning in the Iranian metropolis of Mashhad.

Mizan alleged Rahnavard had stabbed two safety drive members to dying Nov. 17 in Mashhad and wounded 4 others.

Footage aired on state TV confirmed a person chasing one other round a avenue nook, then standing over him and stabbing him after he fell towards a parked bike. Another confirmed the identical man stabbing one other instantly after. The assailant, which state TV alleged was Rahnavard, then fled.

The Mizan report recognized the useless as “student” Basij, paramilitary volunteers underneath Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The Basij (ba-SEEJ’) have deployed in main cities, attacking and detaining protesters, who in many instances have fought again.

A closely edited state tv report aired after Rahnavard’s execution confirmed clips of him in the courtroom. In the video, he says he got here to hate the Basijis after seeing video clips on social media of the forces beating and killing protesters.

The Mizan report accused Rahnavard of attempting to flee to a overseas nation when he was arrested.

Mashhad, a Shiite holy metropolis, is situated some 740 kilometers (460 miles) east of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Activists say it has seen strikes, retailers closed and demonstrations amid the unrest that started over the Sept. 16 dying in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl who had been detained by Iran’s morality police.

Mizan stated Rahnavard was convicted in Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court. The tribunals have been internationally criticized for not permitting these on trial to select their very own attorneys and even see the proof towards them.

Rahnavard had been convicted on the cost of “moharebeh,” a Farsi phrase which means “waging war against God.” That cost has been levied towards others in the a long time for the reason that 1979 Islamic Revolution and carries the dying penalty.

In the pictures of his execution, a banner bearing a Quranic verse: “Indeed the requital of those who wage war against Allah and His Apostle, and try to cause corruption on the earth, is that they shall be slain or crucified, or shall have their hands and feet cut off from opposite sides, or be banished from the land.”

Executions carried out in public with a crane have been uncommon in current years, although Iran used the identical method of hanging to place down unrest following the disputed 2009 presidential election and the Green Movement protests that adopted.

Typically, these condemned are alive because the crane lifts them off their ft, hanging by a rope and struggling to breathe earlier than they asphyxiate or their neck breaks.

Activists have put strain on firms offering cranes to Iran in the previous, warning they can be utilized for executions.

From Brussels, the European Union’s overseas ministers expressed dismay on the newest execution. The bloc is to approve on Monday a recent collection of sanctions towards Iran over its crackdown on protestors, and likewise for supplying drones to Russia to be used in its conflict towards Ukraine, the bloc’s high diplomat stated.

EU overseas coverage chief Josep Borrell stated he spoke to Iran’s overseas minister relating to Tehran’s response to the protests and the most recent execution and that it was “not an easy conversation.”

“We are going to approve a very, very tough package of sanctions,” Borrell informed reporters as he arrived to chair the ministerial assembly in Brussels. Finland’s overseas minister stated that he additionally known as his Iranian counterpart.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the execution as “a blatant attempt at intimidation” of Iranians.

“We are making clear that we stand beside innocent people in Iran,” Baerbock stated as she arrived on the Brussels assembly. “A system that treats its people in this way cannot expect to continue to have halfway normal relations with the European Union.”

Iran is without doubt one of the world’s high executioners and sometimes executes prisoners by hanging. It executed the primary prisoner detained throughout demonstrations final Thursday.

Amnesty International has stated it obtained a doc signed by one senior Iranian police commander asking that the execution for one prisoner be “completed ‘in the shortest possible time’ and that his death sentence be carried out in public as ‘a heart-warming gesture towards the security forces.’”

Amid the unrest, Iran can be battered by an financial disaster that has seen the nationwide foreign money, the rial, drop to new lows towards the U.S. greenback.

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Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Group of Seven nations and Australia joined the European Union on Friday in adopting a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil, a key step as Western sanctions intention to reorder the worldwide oil market to stop price spikes and starve President Vladimir Putin of funding for his conflict in Ukraine.

Europe wanted to set the discounted price that different nations can pay by Monday, when an EU embargo on Russian oil shipped by sea and a ban on insurance coverage for these provides take impact. The price cap, which was led by the G-7 rich democracies, goals to stop a sudden lack of Russian oil to the world that might result in a brand new surge in vitality costs and additional gasoline inflation.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated in a press release that the settlement will assist limit Putin’s “primary source of revenue for his illegal war in Ukraine while simultaneously preserving the stability of global energy supplies.”

The settlement comes after a last-minute flurry of negotiations. Poland lengthy held up an EU settlement, in search of to set the cap as little as potential. Following greater than 24 hours of deliberations, when different EU nations had signaled they might again the deal, Warsaw lastly relented late Friday.

A joint G-7 coalition assertion launched Friday states that the group is “prepared to review and adjust the maximum price as appropriate,” considering market developments and potential impacts on coalition members and low and middle-income international locations.

“Crippling Russia’s energy revenues is at the core of stopping Russia’s war machine,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated, including that she was glad the cap was pushed down a number of additional {dollars} from earlier proposals. She stated each greenback the cap was lowered amounted to $2 billion much less for Russia’s conflict chest.

“It is no secret that we wanted the price to be lower,” Kallas added, highlighting the variations throughout the EU. “A price between 30-40 dollars is what would substantially hurt Russia. However, this is the best compromise we could get.”

The $60 determine units the cap close to the present price of Russia’s crude, which not too long ago fell under $60 a barrel. Some criticize that as not low sufficient to chop into one among Russia’s predominant sources of revenue. It continues to be an enormous low cost to worldwide benchmark Brent, which slid to $85.48 a barrel Friday, however may very well be excessive sufficient for Moscow to maintain promoting even whereas rejecting the thought of a cap.

There is an enormous danger to the worldwide oil market of dropping massive quantities of crude from the world’s No. 2 producer. It might drive up gasoline costs for drivers worldwide, which has stirred political turmoil for U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders in different nations. Europe is already mired in an vitality disaster, with governments going through protests over the hovering price of dwelling, whereas growing nations are much more susceptible to shifts in vitality prices.

But the West has confronted growing strain to focus on one among Russia’s predominant moneymakers — oil — to slash the funds flowing into Putin’s conflict chest and damage Russia’s economic system because the conflict in Ukraine drags right into a ninth month. The prices of oil and pure gasoline spiked after demand rebounded from the pandemic after which the invasion of Ukraine unsettled vitality markets, feeding Russia’s coffers.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby advised reporters Friday that “the cap itself will have the desired effect on limiting Mr. Putin’s ability to profit off of oil sales and limit his ability to continue to use that money to fund his war machine.”

More uncertainty is forward, nonetheless. COVID-19 restrictions in China and a slowing world economic system might imply much less thirst for oil. That is what OPEC and allied oil-producing international locations, together with Russia, pointed to in reducing again provides to the world in October. The OPEC+ alliance is scheduled to satisfy once more Sunday.

That competes with the EU embargo that might take extra oil provides off the market, elevating fears of a provide squeeze and better costs. Russia exports roughly 5 million barrels of oil a day.

Putin has stated he wouldn’t promote oil beneath a price cap and would retaliate in opposition to nations that implement the measure. However, Russia has already rerouted a lot of its provide to India, China and different Asian international locations at discounted costs as a result of Western clients have prevented it even earlier than the EU embargo.

Most insurers are situated within the EU or the United Kingdom and may very well be required to take part within the price cap.

Russia additionally might promote oil off the books through the use of “dark fleet” tankers with obscure possession. Oil may very well be transferred from one ship to a different and combined with oil of comparable high quality to disguise its origin.

Even beneath these circumstances, the cap would make it “more costly, time-consuming and cumbersome” for Russia to promote oil across the restrictions, stated Maria Shagina, a sanctions knowledgeable on the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin.

Robin Brooks, chief economist on the Institute of International Finance in Washington, stated the price cap ought to have been applied when oil was hovering round $120 per barrel this summer time.

“Since then, obviously oil prices have fallen and global recession is a real thing,” he stated. “The reality is that it is unlikely to be binding given where oil prices are now.”

European leaders touted their work on the price cap, a brainchild of Yellen.

“The EU agreement on an oil price cap, coordinated with G7 and others, will reduce Russia’s revenues significantly,” stated Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the EU’s govt arm. “It will help us stabilize global energy prices, benefiting emerging economies around the world.”

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Casert reported from Brussels and McHugh from Frankfurt, Germany. AP reporter Aamer Madhani contributed from Washington.

London
CNN
 — 

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed France was “in denial” concerning the prospect of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, and accused the German authorities of initially favoring a fast Ukrainian army defeat over an extended battle.

Johnson advised CNN’s accomplice community CNN Portugal on Monday that the attitudes of Western nations diverse broadly before Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine on February 24, singling out three main EU nations in feedback which might be unlikely to be welcomed in European capitals.

His remark drew a stinging denial from Germany, which accused the ex-pPM of having “a unique relationship with the truth.”

While Johnson careworn that EU nations later rallied behind Ukraine and at the moment are offering steadfast assist, he stated that was not universally the case within the interval before the Russian invasion.

“This thing was a huge shock … we could see the Russian battalion tactical groups amassing, but different countries had very different perspectives,” Johnson advised CNN’s Richard Quest in Portugal.

“The German view was at one stage that if it were going to happen, which would be a disaster, then it would be better for the whole thing to be over quickly, and for Ukraine to fold,” Johnson claimed, citing “all sorts of sound economic reasons” for that strategy.

“I couldn’t support that, I thought that was a disastrous way of looking at it. But I can understand why they thought and felt as they did,” Johnson went on. Germany has quickly sought to scale back its reliance on Russian vitality since Moscow’s invasion.

“Be in no doubt that the French were in denial right up until the last moment,” Johnson additionally stated.

French President Emmanuel Macron fronted Europe’s efforts to dissuade Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine, visiting him in the Kremlin simply weeks before the Russian chief ordered his troops into the nation. In March, the chief of French army intelligence, Gen. Eric Vidaud, was advised to step down from his submit partly for “failing to anticipate” the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a army supply with information of the matter told CNN at the time.

Johnson additionally criticized Italy’s preliminary response to the menace of an invasion. He advised Quest that its authorities – on the time led by Mario Draghi – was “at one stage simply saying that they would be unable to support the position we were taking,” given their “massive” reliance on Russian hydrocarbons.

CNN has reached out to the French and German governments. Draghi’s workplace declined to remark.

On Wednesday Miguel Berger, the German ambassador to the UK, shared a comment on Twitter that he attributed to a authorities spokesperson: “We know that the very entertaining former Prime Minister always has a unique relationship with the truth. This case is also no exception.”

Many observers initially believed a Russian invasion of Ukraine can be accomplished inside weeks or days, however Kyiv’s forces as a substitute repelled Moscow’s preliminary lunge in the direction of the capital and have extra just lately performed profitable counter-offensives to regain floor within the east and south of the nation.

Johnson stated that after Russia launched its invasion in February, attitudes throughout Europe modified rapidly.

“What happened was everybody – Germans, French, Italians, everybody, (US President) Joe Biden – saw that there was simply no option. Because you couldn’t negotiate with this guy (Putin). That’s the key point,” the ex-Prime Minister stated, including that the “the EU has done brilliantly” in its opposition of Russia since that point.

“After all my anxieties … I pay tribute to the way the EU has acted. They have been united. The sanctions were tough,” Johnson went on.

During his interval in workplace, Johnson steadily criticized Russia’s invasion and solid a detailed relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Johnson was compelled to resign in July after repeated scandals sank his status and brought about dozens of his ministers to resign.

Johnson advised CNN that Zelensky has been “absolutely outstanding” in his management. “He’s a very brave guy. I think the history of this conflict would have been totally, totally different it he hadn’t been there.”

He added that “if Ukraine chooses to be a member of the EU, they should go for it. and I think it would be a good thing for Ukraine,” serving to it obtain political and financial reform. Kyiv utilized to hitch the bloc earlier this 12 months.

Johnson was changed in Downing Street by Liz Truss, who had the shortest tenure of any British Prime Minister. Her disastrous seven-week time period was sunk by a “mini-budget” that spooked markets and brought about international monetary businesses to precise alarm.

In a euphemistic criticism of that mini-budget, Johnson advised Quest: “It’s kind of like when I play the piano. The notes individually sound perfectly OK, but they’re not in the right order, or occurring at the right time.”

Truss has since been changed by Johnson’s Chancellor-turned-political rival, Rishi Sunak, who visited Kyiv for the primary time as Prime Minister on Saturday.

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
CNN
 — 

Despite one main breakthrough on Saturday, worldwide climate negotiations at the UN’s COP27 climate summit are dragging on into early Sunday morning.

The closing plenary of this 12 months’s COP is scheduled to start out at 3 a.m. Egypt time, in keeping with a notice from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

For the second 12 months in a row, marathon negotiations continued nicely previous their scheduled finish, as international locations tried to hammer out stronger language round phasing down all fossil fuels together with oil and gasoline, as an alternative of simply unabated coal, in keeping with a number of NGOs observing the talks.

Elsewhere, progress has been made. On Saturday, events reached a tentative settlement to determine a “loss and damage” fund for nations susceptible to climate disasters, in keeping with negotiators with the European Union and Africa, in addition to non-governmental organizations who’re observing the talks.

The United States can be working to signal on to a deal on a loss and injury fund, Whitney Smith, a spokesperson for US Climate Envoy John Kerry, confirmed to CNN.

The fund will focus on what might be executed to help loss and injury assets, nevertheless it doesn’t embrace legal responsibility or compensation provisions, a senior Biden administration official informed CNN. The US and different developed nations have lengthy sought to keep away from such provisions that might open them as much as authorized legal responsibility and lawsuits from different international locations.

If finalized, this might characterize a significant breakthrough in negotiations on a contentious topic – and it’s seen as a reversal, because the US has up to now opposed efforts to create such a fund.

All just isn’t but settled – an EU supply immediately concerned with the negotiations cautioned earlier Saturday that the deal is a part of the bigger COP27 settlement that must be accepted by almost 200 international locations. Negotiators labored via the evening into Sunday. And different points, together with language round fossil fuels, stay, in keeping with a number of NGOs observing the talks.

But progress has been made, the supply stated. In a dialogue Saturday afternoon Egypt time, the EU managed to get the G77 bloc of nations to agree to focus on the fund to susceptible nations, which might pave the best way to a deal on loss and injury.

If finalized, the deal would characterize a significant breakthrough on the worldwide stage and far exceed the expectations of this 12 months’s climate summit, and the temper amongst among the delegates was jubilant.

Countries who’re essentially the most susceptible to climate disasters – but who’ve contributed little to the climate disaster – have struggled for years to safe a loss and injury fund.

Developed nations which have traditionally produced essentially the most planet-warming emissions have been hesitant to sign off on a fund they felt might open them as much as authorized legal responsibility for climate disasters.

Details on how the fund would function stay murky. The tentative textual content says a fund will likely be established this 12 months, nevertheless it leaves plenty of questions on when it will likely be finalized and turn out to be operational, climate specialists informed reporters Saturday. The textual content talks a few transitional committee that may assist nail down these particulars, however doesn’t set future deadlines.

“There are no guarantees to the timeline,” Nisha Krishnan resilience director for World Resources Institute Africa informed reporters.

Advocates for a loss and injury fund had been proud of the progress, however famous that the draft just isn’t best.

“We are happy with this outcome because it’s what developed countries wanted – though not everything they came here for,” Erin Roberts, founding father of the Loss and Damage Collaboration, informed CNN in an announcement. “Like many, I’ve also been conditioned to expect very little from this process. While establishing the fund is certainly a win for developing countries and those on the frontlines of climate change, it’s an empty shell without finance. It’s far too little, far too late for those on the frontlines of climate change. But we will work on it.”

At COP27 the demand for a loss and injury fund – from creating international locations, the G77 bloc and activists – had reached a fever pitch, pushed by numerous main climate disasters this 12 months together with Pakistan’s devastating floods.

The convention first went into time beyond regulation on Saturday earlier than persevering with into the early hours of Sunday morning, with negotiators nonetheless understanding the small print as the employees had been dismantling the venue round them. At factors, there was an actual sense of fatigue and frustration. Complicating issues was the truth that Kerry – the highest US climate official – is self-isolating after recently testing positive for Covid, working the telephones as an alternative of getting face-to-face conferences.

And earlier within the day Saturday, EU officers threatened to stroll out of the assembly if the ultimate settlement fails to endorse the purpose to restrict warming to 1.5 levels Celsius above pre-industrial ranges.

Global scientists have for many years warned that warming should be restricted to 1.5 levels – a threshold that’s fast-approaching because the planet’s common temperature has already climbed to round 1.1 levels. Beyond 1.5 degrees, the chance of maximum drought, wildfires, floods and meals shortages will enhance dramatically, scientists stated within the latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

In a fastidiously choreographed information convention Saturday morning, the EU’s Green Deal tsar Frans Timmermans, flanked by a full line-up of ministers and different prime officers from EU member states, stated that “no deal is better than a bad deal.”

“We do not want 1.5 Celsius to die here and today. That to us is completely unacceptable,” he stated.

The EU made it clear that it was prepared to conform to a loss and injury fund – a significant shift in its place in comparison with only a week in the past – however solely in alternate for a powerful dedication on the 1.5 diploma purpose.

As the solar went down on Sharm el-Sheikh Saturday night, the temper shifted to cautious jubilation, with teams of negotiators beginning to trace {that a} deal was in sight.

But, as is all the time the case with top-level diplomacy, officers had been fast to emphasize that nothing is actually agreed till the ultimate gavel drops.

CNN
 — 

The United States has sent its response to the European Union on a proposal to strive to save the Iran nuclear deal, the US State Department confirmed Wednesday.

“As you know, we received Iran’s comments on the EU’s proposed final text through the EU. Our review of those comments has now concluded. We have responded to the EU today,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price mentioned in a press release.

He didn’t present particulars on the response, however it isn’t anticipated that the US will settle for what Iran put ahead with out in search of adjustments and additional negotiations.

US officers had voiced some optimism round the newest efforts to revive the nuclear deal, which the US left in 2018 throughout the Trump administration and which Tehran has more and more violated since then. However, they’ve careworn that gaps stay between the two sides.

It can be anticipated to face important home opposition from US congressional lawmakers, and has been denounced by Israel, whose prime minister mentioned “will act to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state.” The negotiations over the nuclear deal are additionally set towards a backdrop of continued considerations about threats from Iranian and Iranian-backed navy teams.

EU spokesperson Nabila Massrali confirmed they “received the US response and have transmitted to Iran.”

Earlier on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry mentioned they’d acquired the US response by way of the EU and “the careful study of the views of the American side has started.”

“Iran will share its comments with the coordinator upon completion of the review,” Nasser Kanaani mentioned, in accordance to a press release by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

The US reply was conveyed greater than every week after Iran sent its response to what the EU’s high diplomat Josep Borrell referred to as “a final text” to restore the nuclear deal. Borrell mentioned Monday that the Iranian response was “reasonable.”

Price on Monday mentioned the US authorities had been working “as quickly as we can, as methodically as we can and as carefully as we can see to it that our response is complete,” noting it “takes into account the Iranian feedback.”

Biden administration officers have claimed that Tehran dropped quite a few calls for that had been in earlier drafts of the textual content meant to restore the 2015 settlement, together with the demand that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) be de-listed as a international terrorist group.

However, US officers have indicated that there are points that also want to resolved earlier than the US will agree to rejoin the deal – formally referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran has more and more violated its commitments to the settlement and grown its nuclear program in the wake of the US withdrawal.

“We’ve said all along that if Iran were prepared to re-enter the JCPOA and if it were willing to drop the demands that are extraneous to the JCPOA, that is to say the demands that Iran previously put forward that have nothing to do with the Iran deal, then we would be prepared on a mutual basis to re-enter the Iran deal,” Price mentioned Wednesday morning in an interview on CNN’s “New Day.”

“We’re closer today, but we’re still not there,” he mentioned.

The US sent its response to the EU a day after Israeli National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata met along with his counterpart Jake Sullivan in Washington. On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid reiterated his nation’s opposition to “this agreement, because it is a bad one.”

Lapid referred to as on the US and different events to the deal to stroll away from negotiations, and claimed the ” negotiators are prepared to make concessions.”

“We have made it clear to everyone: if a deal is signed, it does not obligate Israel. We will act to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state,” he mentioned throughout a press convention in Jerusalem.

Biden administration officers have denied making any concessions to Tehran and have argued that the resumption of the deal is the finest method to stop Iran from ever buying a nuclear weapon.

A senior administration official mentioned that in the occasion of a full mutual reimplementation of the deal, quite a few constraints would go into impact. They embrace a prohibition on Iran “enriching and stockpiling uranium above very limited levels,” the elimination of “thousands of advanced centrifuges … including all of the centrifuges enriching at the fortified underground facility at Fordow,” and “a prohibition on reprocessing and the redesign of a reactor that could otherwise be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium.”

“Strict limits on Iranian enrichment would mean that even if Iran left the deal to pursue a nuclear weapon, it would take at least six months to do so,” the official mentioned.

“In addition to the nuclear constraints Iran would have to implement, the IAEA would again be able to implement the most comprehensive inspections regime ever negotiated, allowing it to detect any Iranian effort to pursue a nuclear weapon covertly,” they added. “Much of that international monitoring would remain in place for an unlimited amount of time.”