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JCPOA revival talks

Iran's foreign minister has reiterated his country’s determination to reach a good and durable agreement to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remark in a phone call with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. Amir-Abdollahian said a good agreement would be at hand if the American side took realistic steps in that direction. Iran's top diplomat said if the US is really willing to clinch a deal with Iran, it must prove this in practice. Amir-Abdollahian also touched on Borrell’s proposed text for an agreement to revive the JCPOA saying that Iran welcomes the continuation of talks and diplomacy. Borrell, for his part, said the Iranian side has so far proven its serious resolve during the JCPOA revival talks and it is time for those talks to bear fruit. This came a day after Borrell wrote in a Financial Times article that he has put on the table a draft agreement to revive the JCPOA that addresses the removal of anti-Iran sanctions and some other remaining differences.

EU energy crisis

Ukraine says it will increase electricity exports to the European Union, as the bloc faces an energy crisis triggered by reduced gas supplies from Russia. Zelensky added that his country will become one of the guarantors of European energy security. The Ukrainian power grid was connected to the European network in mid-March. The connection enabled Ukraine to receive electricity from Europe if military attacks caused outages. In early July, Ukraine started exporting electricity to the EU via Romania. On Wednesday, Germany said Russia has cut gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline to about twenty percent of capacity down from forty-percent. EU countries accuse Russia of reducing gas supplies in response to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine war. Moscow, however, blames technical issues with the pipeline for gas supply cuts.

US third party

Dozens of former US officials both Republican and Democratic are going to announce a third national political party. They say the new party will appeal to millions of voters dismayed with the county’s dysfunctional two-party system.  The new party, called forward will initially be co-chaired by a former Democratic presidential candidate and a former Republican governor of New Jersey. The founding members hope the party would become a viable alternative to the Republican and Democratic parties. The new party is being formed by a merger of three political groups that have emerged in recent years as a reaction to America's increasingly polarized and gridlocked political system. This came after a Gallup poll last year showed a record two-thirds of Americans believed a third party was needed. No information has been released on policy of the party, which will be centrist.

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