Khamenei says “deep” conspiracy behind Iran unrest

A widespread cyberattack has hit gas stations and billboards across Iran, halting some fuel sales. Billboards have been altered to anti-regime messages challenging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iranian officials say they will restart the long-stalled talks over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. The new government has been slow to resume discussions, prompting international concern.

The protesters are angered by October's election results, which saw pro-Iran groups lose seats in parliament. Security forces have been deployed to disperse the demonstrators.

The Iranian military has launched yearly exercises aimed at "responding to aggression." The war games come as Iranian negotiators are set to meet EU and US representatives at the end of the month for nuclear deal talks.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, said talks with Iran would continue and that an additional round of negotiations between the regional rivals was expected soon.

Are those protesting against Covid-19 restrictions just an angry few, or do they represent a much deeper malaise?As the Northern Hemisphere hunkers down for a new winter wave of Covid restrictions, backlash over these curbs is rearing up in Central Europe, the Netherlands and the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Some of the pushback is coming from fringe conspiracy theorists or muscle men, but many others have also lost trust in authorities and in what they see as heavy-handed measures and mixed messages. Is the unfiltered "anything goes" rhetoric that wins elections finally coming home to roost?

The latest round of talks over international monitoring of Iran's nuclear program did not lead to any breakthroughs, said the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said a preliminary agreement remains "possible" as international negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme have just resumed in Vienna in an attempt to salvage the 2015 agreement. But there is "little time left" according to Grossi, and Tehran must guarantee more transparency to the IAEA, in Iran's own interest.

Around 5,000 people every day are crossing the border from Afghanistan into Iran. While Tehran is deporting thousands every week, many are still setting out on the perilous journey that often begins in the city of Herat.

Foreign ministers meeting in Liverpool threatened the Kremlin with fresh economic sanctions in the event of an invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Tehran was told that time is running out to revive the nuclear deal.

With Tehran feared to be weeks away from a point of no return on nuclear weapons, are we looking down the barrel of an arms race in the Middle East? With little optimism in the air for the current round of talks in Vienna, where might this leave the Biden administration? Does the US have the stomach for a fight? And is a fight really what's unfolding? Traditional lines in the sand seem to be out the window as the same Gulf states that are cementing new ties with Israel are also keeping channels open with Tehran.

European diplomats have called a pause in talks on Iran's nuclear program "disappointing." EU envoy Enrique Mora has said only weeks remain to save the deal, as Iran ramps up uranium enrichment.