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Multiple Oscar-winner Francis Ford Coppola picked up a lifetime achievement award on Saturday at a star-studded ceremony which praised his “fearless” attitude to filmmaking. The 86-year-old director of classics including “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” received a trophy from fellow filmmaking legends Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who lauded him for fighting the system and redefining American cinema.”Star Wars” creator Lucas recalled Coppola telling him “don’t be afraid of jumping off cliffs,” while Spielberg hailed the “fearless” director and said that “The Godfather” was “the greatest American film ever made.””You have taken what came before and redefined the canon of American film, and in so doing, you’ve inspired a generation of storytellers,” Spielberg said. The award was given by the prestigious American Film Institute, which produces annual lists of the best films ever made and is seen as one of the industry’s most respected bodies.Taking the podium at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre in front of film veterans including Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, Coppola said that winning the award felt like coming home.”Now I understand here, this place that created me, my home, isn’t really a place at all, but you, friends, colleagues, teachers, playmates, family, neighbors, all the beautiful faces are welcoming me back,” Coppola said.The six-time Academy Award winner was praised by the AFI as a “dreamer”, a “pioneer” and also a “maverick.”Coppola, who famously threw five of his Oscars out a window in an outburst while making “Apocalypse Now,” heard emotional tributes from peers including De Niro, Al Pacino, Diane Lane, Harrison Ford and Ralph Macchio, who thanked the filmmaker for taking a chance on them.”When the studio wanted stars, you fought for actors,” said “Rain Man” star Hoffman.He joked that Coppola launched so many young actors’ careers, but only cast him in last year’s sci-fi drama “Megalopolis” when Hoffman was 86.The independent AFI has honored the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino in previous years.Pacino joined De Niro to pay tribute to Coppola, who directed them in the second installment of “The Godfather” trilogy.Coppola, who battled studio executives to make the film according to his own vision, told AFP that there is no art without adventure. “I think making art without risk is like making babies without sex. It’s possible, but it’s not the best way to do it,” he said.

The White House Correspondents’ Association staged its annual gala on Saturday in a muted celebration amid mounting concerns about press freedom under President Donald Trump. The dinner, while still as packed as previous years, took on a more somber, understated atmosphere with no president cracking self-deprecating jokes and no comedian.The event has been shunned by the Republican tycoon, who has sought to neuter the traditional media since his return to power in a number of moves that critics say are unconstitutional. The stage instead went to winners of journalism awards who saluted the value of the profession. Eugene Daniels, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, did not directly mention Trump but defended the press against his attacks. “What we are not is enemies of the people; what we are not are enemies of the state,” he said.He also offered words of support to The Associated Press, banned from the White House press pool by Trump, and Voice of America, which Trump has moved to shut down.It is normal for presidents to attend the evening — a formal occasion where the dress code is tuxedos and gowns — to congratulate distinguished journalists on their work, deliver a jokey speech and enjoy close-to-the-bone gags from a comedian picked by the organizers.Trump, who gave the gala a wide berth during his first term, had announced he would not attend once again. The president instead attended Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome.Neither was there a comedian to entertain the guests — a roster of hundreds of journalists, politicians and lobbyists.The WHCA said it had decided to cancel comic Amber Ruffin to ensure that the focus would be on awards and scholarship rather than political division.- ‘Enemies of the people’ -Ruffin was excoriating in her response to being dropped, telling talk show host Seth Meyers: “No, we have a free press so that we can be nice to Republicans at fancy dinners. That’s what it says in the First Amendment.”Alex Thompson of Axios, who won an award for coverage of former president Joe Biden, said that the previous White House’s efforts to hide Biden’s alleged cognitive decline showed that both major US parties were capable of deception. “We bear responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows,” he told the black-tie ceremony. Anthony Zurcher of the BBC, who won an award for coverage of the Gaza conflict, quipped that he was the evening’s entertainment. “Keep pushing, keep fighting and keep being fearless,” Zurcher told the crowd.For decades, the WHCA has regulated journalists’ access to the president, in the Oval Office or on Air Force One.White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, in lockstep with a president who regularly calls journalists “liars” and even “enemies of the people,” has put an end to its oversight role. She now gives pride of place at briefings to what she calls “new media” — influencers, podcasters and TV presenters who more often than not are unabashed Trump supporters.The Associated Press, the top US news agency, has seen its access severely curtailed for rejecting Trump’s demands to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” — a decision it has challenged in court.The Trump administration has also begun to dismantle America’s publicly-funded “voices” abroad, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and “Voice of America.”Meanwhile federal funding for public broadcasters NPR and PBS is under threat. Trump has also launched legal assaults on private network CBS and the local Des Moines Register newspaper in Iowa, and brought to heel ABC, which paid $15 million under threat of a libel lawsuit. 

Stockpiling is the reflex response by firms to the imposition of tariffs, but with the rapidly-changing position of the Trump administration, companies are finding that it isn’t so straightforward this time around.Whether it’s the luxury, electronics or pharmaceutical sectors, US President Donald Trump’s unpredictability complicates the calculations of firms.Some companies didn’t wait for Trump’s April 2 announcement of massive “reciprocal” trade tariffs: they had already begun shipping more of their goods to the United States.In the end, Trump backed down quickly on the “reciprocal” tariffs, pausing them for 90 days except for China.That still left the global 10 percent tariff in place, as well as the 25 percent tariffs on European steel, aluminium and cars.French cosmetics firm Clarins didn’t hesitate and stepped up shipments to the United States at the beginning of the year.”We’ve built up three months of stocks, which represents $2 million in goods,” said Lionel Uzan, the head of Clarins’s US operations.With all of its products made in France, Clarins had few other options to mitigate the tariffs.- Discreet stockpiling -Even if they don’t all acknowledge it so openly, firms in many different sectors are stockpiling their products in the United States.In March, exports of Swiss watches to the United States jumped nearly 14 percent compared to the same month last year.More striking is Ireland, which plays host to a number of international pharmaceutical firms.Its exports to the United States jumped 210 percent in February to nearly 13 billion euros ($14.8 billion), with 90 percent of those being pharmaceutical products and chemical ingredients.Fermob, a French manufacturer of metal garden furniture that sells around 10 percent of its products in the United States, said it began planning for US tariffs once the result of the presidential election became known in November.It stepped up production in January and February.”We’ve sent around 30 percent of our extra stock to the United States,” said the company’s chief executive, Baptiste Reybier.That extra production has benefitted transportation firms.Lufthansa Cargo said it has seen in recent weeks “an increase in demand for shipments to the United States”.The trade war “has incited companies to accelerate certain stages in their supply chains”, it told AFP.”A similar trend was seen for the delivery of cars from the EU to the United States,” it said.The phenomenon also concerns US-made goods.The Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported recently that Chinese tech firms were snapping up billions of dollars of artificial intelligence chips made by US firm Nvidia in anticipation of Washington imposing export restrictions.- ‘Short-term approach’ -Stockpiling is not a solution, however, said analysts.Matt Jochim, a partner at consulting firm McKinsey who helps companies with supply chain issues, called stockpiling “a very short-term opportunistic” move.He said the practice has limits as tariffs are constantly changing and it isn’t always practicable.”In a lot of the electronics space, it’s also hard to do, because the technology changes so quickly, you don’t want to get stuck with inventory of chipsets or devices that are the prior version,” he said. Fermob said it was taking a measured approach to stockpiling.”Otherwise you’re replacing one risk with another,” the manufacturer’s Reybier said.”You have to finance stocks and there is also the risk of not having sent the right product.”Having a local subsidiary with warehouses also helped, Reybier added.”It’s too early to say whether we should have sent more or not.”

Three American children aged two, four and seven — one of whom has a rare form of cancer — have been deported from the United States alongside their undocumented immigrant mothers, campaigners announced Saturday.The deportations from the southern state of Louisiana come as President Donald Trump pursues a hard-line immigration policy, calling for mass expulsions of undocumented migrants.The administration of President Donald Trump contends one of the women asked for her child to be sent with her.”The New Orleans ICE Field Office deported at least two families, including two mothers and their minor children,” the National Immigration Project said in a Saturday statement, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.It said the deportations were hastily ordered, and carried out in the early hours of Friday.”One of the mothers is currently pregnant,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a separate statement, describing the deportations as “illegal and inhumane.”One of the US children removed from the country has “a rare form of metastatic cancer” and was deported without medication or medical consultations, the ACLU said.It added that ICE agents held the families “incommunicado” and failed to facilitate communication between the women and lawyers.- ‘Horrifying and baffling’ – Gracie Willis of the National Immigration Project said in the statement: “What we saw from ICE over the last several days is horrifying and baffling. Families have been ripped apart unnecessarily.””We should be gravely concerned that ICE has been given tacit approval to both detain and deport US citizen children.”In the case of one woman and her two-year-old who were deported to Honduras, Federal District Judge Terry Doughty has set a May 16 hearing “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the government just deported a US citizen with no meaningful process.””The government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her. But the court doesn’t know that,” wrote Doughty in a court order dated Friday, highlighting that it is illegal to deport a US citizen.The girl has only been identified by the initials VML.Attorneys for her father filed an emergency request for a temporary restraining order aimed at obtaining the girl’s return.The Trump administration has butted heads with federal judges, rights groups and Democrats who say he has trampled or ignored constitutional rights in rushing to deport migrants, sometimes without the right to a hearing.In a post on social media Saturday, Trump claimed that undocumented migrants in the United States were “wreaking havoc like we have never seen before.” He dismissed due judicial process around deportations, saying: “It is not possible to have trials for millions and millions of people.””We know who the Criminals are, and we must get them out of the U.S.A. — and FAST!”On Friday, federal agents arrested a US judge in Wisconsin for allegedly shielding an undocumented migrant.The White House has also defied a Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the return of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

The United States and Iran reported progress in their latest round of nuclear talks on Saturday and agreed to meet again next week as they pursue a deal that could help ease soaring Middle East tensions.A US official called the talks “positive and productive”, and Iran’s top diplomat said the two sides will study how to narrow their differences on a range of subjects before next week’s fourth round.The highest-level contact in years between the long-time foes is targeting a new deal that would stop Iran developing nuclear weapons — an objective Tehran denies pursuing — in return for relief from sanctions.”There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” the senior US official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the next talks would be in Europe.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Saturday’s talks, which included technical-level teams for the first time, “serious and businesslike”.”There are differences both in the major issues and in the details,” he told Iranian state TV.”Until the next meeting, further studies are to be conducted in the capitals on how to reduce the differences.”Araghchi added: “I think our progress has been good so far. I am satisfied with the process of the negotiation and its speed. I think it is proceeding well and satisfactorily.”US President Donald Trump pulled out of an earlier, multilateral agreement during his first term. The United States and Israel have repeatedly threatened Iran with military strikes.- ‘Minute details’ -US special envoy Steve Witkoff again led the American delegation while Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, headed the US expert-level negotiators.Deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi led Tehran’s technical team, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.The delegations were in separate rooms and communicated in writing via the hosts, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei and Araghchi said.”The expert and technical talks… reached the stage of minute details about mutual demands and expectations,” an Iranian state TV reporter said.Iran’s defence and missile capabilities were not discussed, Baqaei told state TV, while an Iranian negotiator said the talks were “uniquely about sanctions and nuclear questions”, according to Tasnim.Araghchi had earlier expressed “cautious optimism”, saying this week: “If the sole demand by the US is for Iran to not possess nuclear weapons, this demand is achievable”.The talks coincided with a major blast at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port that injured hundreds of people and killed at least four, state media reported.The port’s customs office said it probably resulted from a fire in a storage depot.Before the talks, Trump, in an interview published Friday by Time magazine, reiterated his threat of military action if a deal fell through.But he added that he “would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped”. The talks began in Muscat a fortnight ago and continued in Rome last Saturday.- Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ -They are the most senior engagement between the traditional enemies since 2018, when Trump withdrew from the landmark 2015 accord that gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.Since returning to office, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions against Tehran.In March, he wrote to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing talks, but also warning of potential military action if diplomacy failed.On Tuesday, Washington announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil network — a move Tehran described as “hostile” ahead of Saturday’s talks.On Wednesday, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran to explain tunnels built near its Natanz nuclear site, seen in satellite imagery released by the Institute for Science and International Security.Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit imposed by the 2015 deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.Araghchi has previously called Iran’s right to enrich uranium “non-negotiable”.Tehran last year revived engagement with Britain, France and Germany — also signatories to the 2015 deal — holding several rounds of nuclear talks ahead of the US meetings.Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged the three European states to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.The option to use the mechanism expires in October.Iran has warned it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the snapback is triggered.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange joined the crowds on Saturday in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral, according to AFP journalists.Assange mingled with thousands of mourners just outside St Peter’s Square, where world leaders including US President Donald Trump were gathered to say farewell to the head of the Catholic Church.”Now Julian is free, we have all come to Rome to express our family’s gratitude for the pope’s support during Julian’s persecution,” Assange’s wife Stella said in a message cited on the Wikileaks X page.Julian Assange was released in 2024 under a plea bargain after years of incarceration for publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential US government documents.The plea bargain was agreed with the US administration under former president Joe Biden, who was also at the funeral.Assange spent most of the previous 14 years either holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London to avoid arrest, or locked up at Belmarsh Prison in the British capital.”Our children and I had the honor of meeting Pope Francis in June 2023 to discuss how to free Julian from Belmarsh prison,” Stella Assange said.”Francis wrote to Julian in prison and even proposed to grant him asylum at the Vatican,” she said.The Assange family were near the top of the Via della Conciliazione, the wide avenue that leads up to St Peter’s Square, which was packed for the funeral.Assange’s case remains deeply contentious.The trove published on the Wikileaks whistle-blowing website included searingly frank US State Department descriptions of foreign leaders, accounts of extrajudicial killings and intelligence gathering against allies.Supporters hail Assange as a champion of free speech and say he was persecuted by authorities and unfairly imprisoned.Detractors see him as a reckless blogger whose uncensored publication of ultra-sensitive documents put lives at risk and jeopardised US security.

A commentator yells excitedly as hundreds of spectators stand glued to a video of a racecourse — but the athletes they are rooting for are actually tiny sperm cells.The unusual sport was invented by 17-year-old high schooler Eric Zhu, who raised over a million dollars to organize the event to call attention to male infertility.Zhu said he was inspired by social media posts that claim average sperm counts had halved over the past 50 years.Fearing that “there could be this dystopian future where no one will be able to make babies,” Zhu said he wanted to use the competition to highlight the importance of reproductive health.Scientists have not reached a consensus on whether humanity has experienced a dramatic drop in sperm count, with studies showing conflicting results.At the Los Angeles event on Friday night, a man in a lab coat used pipettes to place samples of semen — collected from contestants ahead of time — onto tiny two-millimeter-long “tracks.”The race track was magnified 100 times by a microscope, then filmed by a camera that transferred the image to a 3D animation software before the final video was broadcast to the audience.”There’s no way to really tell if this is real, but I want to believe it is,” Felix Escobar, a 20-year-old spectator, told AFP.At the end of the brief race, the loser, 19-year-old University of California student Asher Proeger, was sprayed with a liquid resembling semen.- ‘Not Elon Musk’ -Zhu’s fears about fertility echo the talking points of many in the burgeoning pro-natalist movement, which include conservative and far-right political figures.But Zhu distanced himself from the movement.”I have nothing to do with this, I’m not like an Elon Musk, who wants to repopulate the Earth,” the young entrepreneur told AFP.Musk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has been vocal about his belief that population decline threatens the West and has fathered over a dozen children with multiple women.Zhu insisted he simply wanted to raise awareness of how sperm quality goes hand in hand with overall health.”It’s your choice to sleep earlier. It’s your choice to stop doing drugs. It’s your choice to eat healthier, and all these different things have a significant kind of impact on your motility,” Zhu said.Shanna Swan, a reproductive epidemiologist at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, co-authored a study that found the sperm count decline cited by Zhu.She said the proliferation of “hormonally active chemicals” in recent years has had a negative impact on human fertility.But beneath the scientific veneer, the sperm race may seem more like an opportunity for college students to display their adolescent humor and participate in a viral stunt.Some attendees dressed in costumes, including one resembling male genitals, while the hosts made lewd jokes and roasted the competitors.A YouTube livestream of the event attracted over 100,000 views.”I can’t say I learned stuff I didn’t know before,” 22-year-old student and audience member Alberto Avila-Baca told AFP.

The United States and Iran started discussing details of a potential nuclear deal in Oman Saturday as they held their third round of talks in as many weeks.US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are again leading the talks, which this time include a technical-level meeting between experts from both sides.The discussions are aimed at striking a new deal that would stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons — an objective Tehran denies pursuing — in return for relief from crippling sanctions.US President Donald Trump pulled out of an earlier multilateral nuclear deal during his first term in office.Saturday’s talks were taking place in a “serious atmosphere”, Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to the Tasnim news agency.Iran’s defence and missile capabilities were not on the agenda, Baqaei said separately to state TV, while an Iranian negotiator told Tasnim that the talks were “uniquely about sanctions and nuclear questions”.Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, leads the US expert-level delegation, while deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi will lead Tehran’s, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.The talks started at around 10am (0600 GMT) with the delegations in separate rooms and communicating via the hosts, Baqaei said in a statement.Iran’s state news agency IRNA said the talks may extend beyond Saturday, “given that the negotiations have entered technical and expert-level discussions and the examination of details”.Araghchi earlier expressed “cautious optimism”, saying this week: “If the sole demand by the US is for Iran to not possess nuclear weapons, this demand is achievable”.But if Washington had “impractical or illogical demands, we will naturally encounter problems”, he added.The talks coincided with a major blast from unknown causes at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port that injured hundreds of people and killed at least four, according to state media.- Trump would ‘prefer deal’ -Before the talks, Trump, in an interview published Friday by Time magazine, reiterated his threat of military action if a deal fell through.But he added that he “would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped”. The talks began in Muscat a fortnight a go and continued in Rome last Saturday.They are the highest-level engagement between the long-time foes since 2018, when Trump withdrew from the landmark 2015 accord that gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.Since returning to office, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions against Tehran.In March, he wrote to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing talks, but also warning of potential military action if diplomacy failed.On Tuesday, Washington announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil network — a move Tehran described as “hostile” ahead of Saturday’s talks.Western nations, including the United States, have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.Tehran has consistently denied the charge, maintaining that its nuclear programme is strictly for peaceful purposes.On Wednesday, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran to explain tunnels built near its Natanz nuclear site, seen in satellite imagery released by the Institute for Science and International Security.The Washington-based think tank also noted construction of a new security perimeter.- ‘Non-negotiable’ right -In an interview released Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Washington’s firm stance against Iran’s uranium enrichment.”If Iran wants a civil nuclear programme, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one: and that is they import enriched material,” he said on the Honestly podcast.Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit imposed by the 2015 deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.Araghchi has previously called Iran’s right to enrich uranium “non-negotiable”.Tehran recently sought to reopen dialogue with Britain, France and Germany — also signatories to the 2015 deal — holding several rounds of nuclear talks ahead of the US meetings.Last week, Rubio urged the three European states to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.The option to use the mechanism expires in October.Iran has warned that it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the snapback is triggered.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump will hold a second meeting on Saturday on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome, after a first 15-minute exchange described as “constructive” by Kyiv.”The leaders agreed to continue their discussions today. Teams are working on organising the continuation of the meeting,” Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov told reporters. The Ukrainian presidency released photos of the two men sitting face to face, and also in a four-way exchange with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The United States and Iran were to hold a fresh round of technical and high-level nuclear negotiations in Oman on Saturday, after both sides reported progress in previous meetings.Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, leading Tehran’s delegation, arrived in Muscat on Friday ahead of the mediated talks, with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff expected to head the American side.The technical talks will come first, followed by the high-level negotiations.Araghchi expressed “cautious optimism” about the process this week, saying that “if the sole demand by the US is for Iran to not possess nuclear weapons, this demand is achievable”.But if Washington had “impractical or illogical demands, we will naturally encounter problems”, he added.US President Donald Trump, in an interview published Friday by Time magazine, reiterated his threat of military action if a deal fell through, but also suggested he was optimistic about an agreement, saying he “would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped”.Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, will lead Washington’s expert-level delegation, while deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi will lead Tehran’s, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.Iranian state television reported from Muscat that the meetings were expected to begin around 0830 GMT, without specifying which session it was referring to.Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Friday that the new talks, like the previous rounds in Muscat and Rome the past two Saturdays, would be mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi.Baqaei wrote on X that Iran’s delegation aimed to secure its “lawful right to use nuclear energy… while taking reasonable steps to demonstrate that our programme is entirely peaceful”.The “speedy” termination of sanctions is also “a priority”, he added.The recent negotiations are the highest-level engagement between the long-time foes since Trump withdrew during his first term from a landmark 2015 nuclear accord that offered Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.- ‘Hostile’ sanctions -Since returning to office in January, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions against Tehran.In March, he wrote to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing talks, but also warning of potential military action if diplomacy failed.On Tuesday, Washington announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil network — a move Tehran described as “hostile” ahead of Saturday’s talks.Western nations, including the United States, have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons — an allegation Tehran has consistently denied.Iran maintains its nuclear programme is strictly for peaceful purposes.On Wednesday, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran to explain tunnels built near its Natanz nuclear site, seen in satellite imagery released by the Institute for Science and International Security.The Washington-based think-tank also noted construction of a new security perimeter.”We’re asking them, what is this for? They are telling us, it’s none of your business,” Grossi told reporters.Tehran had no immediate comment.- ‘Non-negotiable’ right -In an interview released Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Washington’s firm stance against Iran’s uranium enrichment.”If Iran wants a civil nuclear programme, they can have one just like many other countries in the world have one: and that is they import enriched material,” he said on the Honestly podcast.Iran currently enriches uranium up to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit imposed by the 2015 deal but still below the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.Araghchi has previously called Iran’s right to enrich uranium “non-negotiable”.A commentary in Iran’s conservative Kayhan daily on Saturday said: “By repeating the tone of threats and denying the right to enrichment, Trump and his Secretary of State have shown that what Washington is after is ‘Iran’s surrender’ and not an ‘equal agreement.'”Araghchi said in the text of a speech posted to X earlier this week that Iran was looking “to build at least 19 more reactors”.Tehran has recently sought to reopen dialogue with Britain, France and Germany — also signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal — holding several rounds of nuclear talks ahead of the US meetings.On Thursday, Araghchi said he was willing to visit the European countries for talks.Last week, Rubio urged them to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.The option to use the mechanism expires in October.Iran has warned that it could withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the snapback is triggered.