• Tehran confirms scrapping nuclear monitoring deal with IAEA.
• Development follows reimposition of UN sanctions last month.
• Iran may review fresh IAEA proposals despite deal’s cancellation.

DUBAI: Iran has called off its nuclear cooperation deal with the UN’s atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it signed in September, the country’s state media reported, citing its Supreme National Security Council Secretary on Monday.

The decision comes after Western powers reimposed UN sanctions on Tehran. The move is seen as another blow to efforts aimed at rebuilding trust and monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities.

The statement came around three weeks after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said Tehran would scrap the agreement, which allowed the IAEA to resume inspections of its nuclear sites, if Western powers reinstated UN sanctions.

Those were reinstated last month.

The confirmation will be a setback for the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been trying to rebuild cooperation with Tehran since Israel and the United States bombed the nuclear sites in June.

“The agreement has been cancelled,” Ali Larijani said while meeting his Iraqi counterpart in Tehran, according to state media.

“Of course, if the agency has a proposal, we will review it in the secretariat,” he added.

Mexico’s government said on Monday that 76 people had died in catastrophic floods and mudslides that hit the country’s centre and east this month, with another 27 still officially listed as missing.

Nearly 120 communities remained isolated with roads and highways blocked or destroyed, according to a report presented during a press conference by President Claudia Sheinbaum.

“The emergency response […] is not over yet; we are still working,” Sheinbaum told reporters, and announced aid totaling 10 billion pesos (about $544 million) for some 100,000 families affected by the calamity.

The central state of Hidalgo had the most blocked off municipalities at 65, many of them in mountainous regions where access routes were damaged by landslides.

Veracruz, along the Gulf of Mexico in the country’s east, was in turn hardest hit by flooding.

More than 12,700 soldiers are still on the ground to deliver aid and otherwise assist affected communities, the government said.

Heavy rains often occur during Mexico’s wet season from May to October, but last week’s downpours were made more dangerous by the combination of a tropical system from the Gulf of Mexico and a cold front from the north, according to meteorologists.

• Belgium-led letter urges coordinated EU action on Afghan returns.
• 20 EU nations demand steps for voluntary, forced repatriations.
• Brussels says engagement doesn’t confer legitimacy to Taliban.
  

The European Union on Monday said it has “initiated exploratory contacts” with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan as member states push to boost deportations of failed asylum seekers.

The admission, which is likely to raise hackles given the Taliban’s poor rights record and diplomatic standing, comes after a majority of EU nations urged Brussels to reach out to Kabul to boost expulsions.

The European Commission is working to ensure coordination among member states, Markus Lammert, a spokesman for the EU’s executive, told a press conference in Brussels.

“Earlier this year, we have initiated exploratory contacts at technical level with the de-facto authorities in Afghanistan,” he said.

The Taliban have been largely isolated on the global stage since they imposed a strict law upon returning to power in 2021, following the withdrawal of US-led forces.

But in a letter initiated by Belgium, 20 EU member states called on the commission to take action to enable both voluntary and forced returns of Afghans with no right to stay.

“We are unable to return irregular Afghan nationals, even after a conviction,” Belgian migration minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt said in a statement.

“This undermines public trust in asylum policy and affects our collective security. It is time for Europe to act together.”

The text was signed among others by Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden.

Most are members of a club of EU immigration hawks that is clamouring for a broader clampdown on migration following a souring of public opinion that has fuelled hard-right electoral gains across the bloc.

Deportations — or the lack thereof — have been a common gripe, as fewer than 20 of people ordered to leave the bloc are currently returned to their country of origin, according to EU data.

Sweden’s migration minister Johan Forssell told AFP in an interview last week that EU members could pool resources to repatriate Afghans.

“There could be joint planes to Afghanistan,” he said, adding an EU team had been holding technical discussions in Kabul.

“We need to find common solutions here,” Forssell added.

The EU has maintained a diplomatic presence in the country but contacts have been limited to certain areas, including humanitarian assistance.

Brussels’ diplomatic service stresses on its website that the engagement “does not bestow any legitimacy” to the Taliban government, which has been criticised for its repressive measures.

Afghan women in particular can no longer practice many professions or travel without a male chaperone, and are banned from studying after the age of 12, walking in parks or going to gyms.