Press TV's news headlines

Here is the latest top stories from Press TV on March 17, 2021. 

‘West's hypocritical approach’

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has held a meeting to discuss how to respond to Washington’s continued sanctions on the country. The secretary of the council dismissed any arguments linking sanctions removal to Iran’s domestic affairs. Ali Shamkhani said the West’s double standard is the reason behind the current deadlock over the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA. Informed sources have told Press TV that Shamkhani’s remarks suggest what matters to Iran is a complete removal of sanctions and their verifications. The US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. One year later, Iran responded by scaling down its commitments under the deal. The new US administration has conditioned its return to the accord on Iran’s full compliance with the accord. But Tehran insists Washington was the one that had left the deal and therefore needs to take the step first. 

US-Russia tensions

US President Joe Biden has issued a stark warning to his Russian counterpart, saying Vladimir Putin will pay a price for what he called interfering in the 2020 American presidential election. Biden revealed that he had warned about a potential US response during his January phone call with Putin. Biden vowed that the consequences would come soon. He also said he thinks his Russian counterpart has no soul and is a “killer.” The comments followed a US intelligence report that Putin had directed efforts to swing the 2020 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. Russia has rejected the allegations as baseless and an attempt by Washington to create a negative image of Moscow. It says the report is a pretext to impose new sanctions on Russia.

US shootings 

Six women of Asian descent have been killed in a string of shooting incidents in the US state of Georgia, raising concerns about growing violence against minorities. The women were among the eight victims of three attacks around the city of Atlanta. South Korea has confirmed that four of the victims were of Korean descent. Police have detained a white man, Robert Aaron, on the suspicion of staging all the attacks. Georgia state officials say they have not yet determined any motive behind the crime. However, they say the bloodshed matches a "pattern of violence against Asian Americans" during the coronavirus pandemic. However, advocacy groups say attacks against minority groups have spiked markedly after the COVID-19 outbreak in the US, with women and the elderly being the prime targets. 

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