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to resolve all their differences on October 2020, at which point they inked a definitive agreement.
Kazakhstan has undertaken to spend 91bn tenge ($208mn) on an overhaul
of the launch complex on which Nazarbayev Start is to be built, while Russia is developing and constructing the Soyuz-5 at an estimated cost of $916mn. Russia has committed to launching
craft from the Nazarbayev Start at least twice yearly over the period of a decade, ensuring predictable revenue, Musin told lawmakers in November.
The thinking of Kazakh officials is that this project will not only be a money- spinner, but that Kazakhstan will in time evolve from a mere leaseholder
of space-launching infrastructure into a full-fledged operator equipped with the skills to independently offer launch services to other paying customers.
Construction of what is, for now, being known as the Nazarbayev Start is slated to begin in March and be completed a few months before flight tests start in December 2023.
Russia is especially eager not to see those deadlines slip.
“It is extremely important for us to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Roscosmos space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin said at an intergovernmental commission meeting in Nur-Sultan on December 13.
Almaz Kumenov is an Almaty-based journalist.
This article originally appeared on Eurasianet.
talks, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, referencing the former Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy directed at Iran, said on Twitter: “Washington fails to understand that ‘maximum failure’ & a diplomatic breakthrough are mutually exclusive. Doubling down on sanctions won’t create leverage – and is anything but seriousness & goodwill.”
The JCPOA was signed by Iran, the US and five other major nations in late 2015. It tied Iran to compliance with terms that would ensure its nuclear development programme was kept entirely civilian. In return for the compliance, heavy economic sanctions were lifted. But in May 2018, then US president Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the multilateral deal, arguing it should be tougher on Iran, and brought in sanctions aimed at crippling the Iranian economy. In response, Iran has gradually moved to a point where its nuclear activities breach the JCPOA in numerous and substantial ways.
Fear of next US president
A problem with current US President Joe Biden’s wish to resurrect the deal with full Iranian and American participation is that even if sanctions are lifted, it is unlikely that many foreign investors
will return to Iran as they will fear that the next US president, should he or
she be a Republican, will reimpose the sanctions. Given the situation, there are arguments that it might suit Iran, the US, the remaining JCPOA signatories and Israel – which, despite persistent denials
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh warned the US: “Doubling down on sanctions won’t create leverage – and is anything but seriousness and goodwill.”
Tensions as US imposes more sanctions on Iran ahead of next Vienna nuclear talks
Ben Aris in Navoi
There were fresh tensions between Iran and the US ahead of an expected December 9 return to the Vienna nuclear deal talks after the Biden administration imposed fresh sanctions on Iranian entities and officials. Tehran warned Washington it should not calculate that the measures would “create leverage” in the negotiations, called as attempts continue to find an agreement that would restore Iranian
and American compliance with the deal, known as the JCPOA.
The US Treasury Department blacklisted the Special Units of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and Counter-Terror Special Forces and several officials linked to the agencies, accusing them of human rights abuses.
Rebuking the US for announcing the sanctions on the eve of the next stage of the
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