Iran’s president says thousands died in hajj tragedy

Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani that since the USA seems signed onto the multilateral nuclear agreement agreed to in July, it’s time to get to work.

“If we didn’t have USA military invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the USA support of the Zionist regime against people of Palestine, today the terrorist would not have an excuse for a justification of their crimes”.

Sky’s correspondent, travelling with Cameron to the United States, said Cameron was not ruling out that Assad could be part of a transition, but “what he is very clear about is that Assad cannot be part of Syria’s future in the long run”.

Iran’s state prosecutor, Ebrahim Raisi, said Saudi Arabia’s poor management of the crowds of pilgrims amounted to criminal acts “under global law”.

On Sunday, Rouhani said that Assad’s regime “can’t be weakened” by the worldwide community if they wish to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) group, in an address to journalists on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“The interest of both parties should be taken into account… and win-win solutions should be the basis for agreement,” he said.

But while the US and Iran have been at odds in Syria and in Yemen – where the USA has supported a Saudi-led bombing campaign against Houthi rebels allied to Iran – the two erstwhile foes have a tacit understanding about the common threat posed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the region.

Months ago Iran produced a proposal to end the Syrian conflict, which has claimed more than 250,000 lives, and Rouhani said it is still under discussion with a few unnamed countries.

He said the way to tackle regional conflict is through dialogue and cooperation with the central governments to establish stability – and then build democratic governance in the Middle East region.

David Cameron, meanwhile, is to hold face-to-face talks with Iranian president Hasan Rouhani at the United Nations summit in New York in a fresh bid to revive the stalled Syrian peace process.

Iran would be inclined to release American prisoners, such as Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, if the USA releases Iranians it is holding.

In US, there are around a dozen Iranian and Iranian-Americans detained in prison and charged with arms smuggling or supplying equipment to Iran usable in its nuclear program. Former US Marine Amir Hekmati was sentenced to death in 2012 for espionage, waging war against God and of corrupting the earth; Saeed Abedini was arrested in Iran in 2012, charged with attempting to undermine the government.