the times | Monday February 21 2022 2GM 31
The fate of the Iran nuclear deal was in
the balance last night after Iranian
officials sent out conflicting messages
about the likelihood that Tehran would
accept America’s conditions.
Western diplomats say that the text
outlining how to return to the 2015 deal
torn up by President Trump has been
tabled and they are optimistic that it
can be agreed by the end of the week.
However, the text does not meet all of
Iran’s demands and a final decision will
be taken by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
the country’s supreme leader.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s
Iran
Anchal Vohra Beirut
Richard Spencer
Middle East Correspondent
Berlusconi wants to open
university for politicians
Page 33Mosul library wrecked
by Isis is reborn
Page 32Iran nuclear deal close but hardliners dig in
foreign minister, told the Munich
security conference that the “window
was open” and “we are close to a deal”.
However, he continued to demand
statements from the United States that
it would commit itself to the deal
beyond President Biden’s presidency
and asked for goodwill gestures, such as
the release of assets frozen by sanc-
tions.
Iran’s parliament published a letter to
President Raisi demanding that a deal
should not be signed unless all Iran’s
initial demands were met, something
even Abdollahian accepted would not
happen. Parliament has no say over the
deal, but the letter reflects continuing
hostility to the West of large parts of
Tehran’s hardline establishment.
The original deal prevented Iranfrom enriching uranium to more than
the 3.67 per cent purity required to
generate nuclear power. In return,
United Nations sanctions on Iran’s oil
exports and finance industry were
lifted.
Trump reimposed sanctions in 2018
and Iran responded by resuming
enrichment to higher levels, reaching
60 per cent last year, not far short of
the 90 per cent required for nuclear
weapons.
In the past month Iran has made a
key concession, accepting that Biden
cannot bind the hand of his successors.
However, Abdollahian said Iran was
still seeking a written statement of in-
tent by US and European parliaments,
and it is understood that the text of the
agreement does not even go this far.Ferry fire rescue
raises hope for
more survivors
The rescue of a lorry driver 54 hours
after a fire tore through a ferry sailing
between Greece and Italy has raised
hopes that ten other missing passen-
gers and an unknown number of
stowaways may still be alive.
The 21-year-old Belarusian, wearing
shorts, a black T-shirt and flip-flops,
was found in the ship’s stern, saying “tell
me if I am alive” before rescue workers
eased him down a ladder.
He was taken to a hospital on the
island of Corfu but was discharged
within hours. He told authorities that
he had heard “three to four other voices
crying for help”.
The fire broke out on the Euroferry
Olympia, an Italian-flagged ship, late
on Thursday as it sailed from Igoume-
nitsa in Greece to Brindisi, Italy, with
nearly 300 people aboard.
Rescuers said yesterday that a man’s
body had been recovered in a burnt-out
lorry. It was the first corpse to have
been found on the ship.
Firefighters stepped up efforts to
douse the flames, with temperatures
exceeding 600C, in the aft section of
the vessel. Gale-force winds and
choppy waters were expected today,
potentially complicating the search.
Three lorry drivers — a Bulgarian, a
Romanian and the young Belarusian —
and an Afghan refugee were rescued
several hours after the fire broke out on
one of three car decks three hours after
the ship set sail.
The Greek coastguard and an
Italian police vessel, which were
in the area to track illegal migrants,
managed to remove 280 people and
land them in Corfu. Yesterday plumes
of black smoke continued to cloak
the ferry, as well as drift over Corfu and
parts of Albania.
“It was so unreal, it was a bit like the
Titanic, but it was real,” David Waller,
a 58-year-old lorry driver, said.
“We heard the alarm. We thought it
was some kind of drill, but we saw
through the porthole that people were
running,” Dimitris Karaolanidis,another lorry driver, said. “You can’t
think of anything else at the time than
your family.”
On Saturday, a prosecutor ordered
an urgent investigation into the cause
of the fire.
Drivers who frequently travelled
with the 27-year-old ship, operated by
Grimaldi Lines, complained of faulty
security systems, as well as appalling
conditions that forced many of them
to defy maritime regulations and
sleep in their lorries rather than use the
ship’s cabins.
“The ship was in an abysmal
state,” Elias Gerondidakis, the son of amissing lorry driver, said. “My father
slept in his truck this time because the
cabins were filthy, full of bedbugs and in
a terrible state.”
A 2017 letter served to the Greek
merchant marine ministry by the
Greek lorry drivers’ union cited the
ship’s “awful condition” and a list of
security lapses. This month
an inspection by the authorities found
that the vessel’s ventilation was out of
order and that the ship had poor
hygiene throughout.
The Grimaldi group said it was
working with the authorities to shed
light on the cause of the incident. The
ship’s captain and two engineers were
arrested on Friday but were released
that day, officials said.Greece
Anthee Carassava AthensWind hampered
firefighters, above;
a survivor, leftCereal offender: bear breaks
into 28 homes to steal food
Police in a California mountain town
are hunting a lone perpetrator behind
break-ins at 28 homes in seven
months. The suspect is a 500lb
black bear known to his pur-
suers as Hank the Tank.
Traps have been set to
capture Hank. Wildlife offi-
cials say that he has become
too accustomed to humans
in the Sierra Nevada resort of
Lake Tahoe, breaking down
doors and squeezing through
windows to ransack kitchens and ga-
rage freezers to steal snacks.
Police have received 150 calls in thepast two months about break-ins and
other issues related to Hank, left, who
has been categorised as a “conflict
bear”. Officers have tried to drive him
away by firing bean-bags and blank
rounds. Some people have in-
stalled electronic mats out-
side homes as a deterrent.
Toogee Sielsch, a resi-
dent, told the South Tahoe
Now website: “No diversion
techniques will make this
bear stop. It’s dangerous.”
The California Department
of Fish and Wildlife says that
Hank must be killed, but the Bear
League is fighting for a reprieve, sug-
gesting a move to a sanctuary instead.Jacqui Goddard Miamiclosing ceremony, watched by President Xi, at the Bird’s Nest stadium that capped a Games of high drama, controversy and,
said the athletes had shown political leaders an example of “solidarity and peace”. GB’s curlers end years of hurt, pages 62-63
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HankmustAMIN MOHAMMAD JAMALI/GETTY IMAGES; ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES