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Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria November 29, 2021. EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY - 

Indirect US-Iranian talks on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal broke off until next week as European officials voiced dismay on Friday (Dec 3) at the demands of Iran's new, hardline administration.

The seventh round of talks in Vienna is the first with delegates sent by Iran's anti-Western President Ebrahim Raisi on how to resuscitate the agreement under which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.

Raisi's election in June caused a five-month hiatus in the talks, heightening suspicions among US and European officials that Iran is playing for time while advancing its nuclear program.

Diplomats said the Iranian delegation had proposed sweeping changes to a text that was painstakingly negotiated in previous rounds and that European officials had said was 70 to 80 per cent finished.

"Over five months ago, Iran interrupted negotiations. Since then, Iran has fast-forwarded its nuclear program. This week, it has back-tracked on diplomatic progress made," senior officials from France, Britain and Germany said in a statement, adding that Iran was demanding "major changes" to the text.

It is "unclear how these new gaps can be closed in a realistic time frame", they added.

The three European powers expressed "disappointment and concern" at Iran's demands, some of which they said were incompatible with the deal's terms or went beyond them.

The 2015 agreement imposed strict limits on Iran's uranium enrichment activities, extending the time it would need to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb, if it chose to, to at least a year from around two to three months. Most experts say that period is now shorter than before the deal.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, saying it only wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In exchange for the nuclear restrictions, the deal lifted US, European Union and UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

After more than two years of Iranian adherence to the core curbs, however, then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018, calling it too soft on Tehran, and reimposed painful US economic sanctions on Tehran.

Tehran retaliated from 2019 by breaching many of the deal's limits on enrichment and other restrictions, and advancing well beyond them. With the deal's nuclear benefits now badly eroded, some Western officials say there is little time left before the foundation of the deal is damaged beyond repair.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he thought it likely the current round of talks would not succeed and appeared to look beyond them, hinting at involving more nations, such as Gulf Arab states, in a wider discussion if the Vienna talks fail.

"I think it's very difficult to find an agreement if the Gulf countries, Israel, all those whose security is directly affected, don't take part," he told reporters in Dubai.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani's uncompromising stance is that since Washington left the deal, it should make the first move by lifting all sanctions imposed on Tehran since then, even those unrelated to Tehran's nuclear activities.

Bagheri Kani told Reuters on Monday the United States and its Western allies also should offer guarantees to Iran that no new sanctions would be imposed on it in future.

However, he left the door ajar for more talks by saying European nations could propose their own drafts for discussion, Iranian state media reported.

Western negotiators take a return to the original deal as their base line, meaning if Iran wants sanctions relief beyond it, Tehran should accept more nuclear restrictions.

This week's talks ended with a meeting of the remaining parties to the deal: Iran, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. Officials said the talks, in which others shuttle between US and Iranian diplomats because Iran refuses to meet directly with US officials, will resume mid-week//CNA

Shoppers in the city centre wear face masks, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Dublin, Ireland, November 30, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne - 

The Irish government on Friday (Dec 3) announced strict new limits on the hospitality sector and home visits to try to push down COVID-19 infection rates after officials said the new Omicron variant was likely to add to pressure on the health service.

Ireland has been reporting COVID-19 case numbers near record highs since early November, even though 91per cent of eligible people over the age of 12 are fully vaccinated.

The death rate has been far lower than during earlier waves and case numbers have stabilised. But health officials are concerned that even if Omicron does not evade vaccines, it could significantly increase already high infection numbers.

"If Omicron takes hold and if it is more transmissible, the potential for a very serious crisis is obvious," Prime Minister Micheal Martin said in a televised address, saying that he had received "very stark" advice from health officials.

"The risk associated with proceeding into the Christmas period without some restrictions ... is just too high," Martin said.

Under the measures that will be in place from Tuesday until Jan. 9, indoor events will have to operate at 50per cent capacity, a measure promoters say will make concerts unprofitable.

Bars and restaurants, which have been subject to various levels of restrictions since the start of the pandemic, must not accept bookings for more than six people and must only offer table service, the government said.

People should only welcome visitors from a maximum of three other households to their home, it said.

Nightclubs, which opened for the first time in over 18 months in October, will have to close under the new rules.

"It is utterly devastating," said Angela Dorgan, Chair of the National Campaign for the Arts lobby group, which has said restrictions during the pandemic have been unfair to the arts and nightlife.

Martin said the government would ensure that the entertainment sector had the necessary financial support//CNA

FILE PHOTO: People wait after receiving a shot of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a mass vaccination center located inside a gym in Prague, Czech Republic, March 18, 2021. REUTERS/David W Cerny - 

The Czech Health Ministry is preparing a decree making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for people over 60, as well as workers in critical sectors such as medical staff, police, soldiers and firefighters, news website www.idnes.cz reported on Friday (Dec 3).

The government has been considering compulsory vaccinations due to lagging inoculation numbers compared with west European nations. The country of 10.7 million has been one of the world's worst-hit in recent weeks by a surge in infections.

Some other European countries have begun moving towards compulsory vaccinations, including the Czech Republic's neighbour Austria, which has mandated shots for all citizens.

"It is clear that Europe is turning toward compulsory vaccination against COVID-19. Czechia should take the same path," the website quoted Vojtech as saying.

It said the decree should be published next week, with the vaccine mandate effective from March.

But whether it remains in place long enough to take effect could be in doubt, as the government is due to be replaced by a centre-right coalition later this month following an election in October. The new coalition has been against compulsory vaccination for age groups, and lukewarm on mandatory vaccination for professions.

Just 59.6 per cent of Czechs are vaccinated, compared to an EU average of 66.3 per cent, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Inoculation numbers rose in the past weeks as the government banned access for those not vaccinated to restaurants and other services from November. There have however been public protests against vaccination and epidemiological measures.

An opinion poll by the STEM agency released on Friday showed 19 per cent of the population remained opposed to getting the shots.

It said the public was split 43 per cent to 43 per cent on supporting or rejecting compulsory vaccination.

The Czech Republic has reported 33,450 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic, one of the worst rates per capita globally//CNA

FILE PHOTO: A medical specialist holds the hand of a patient suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Toxicology and Sepsis clinic of the Riga East Clinical University Hospital in Riga, Latvia. REUTERS/Janis Laizans - 

Europe crossed 75 million coronavirus cases on Friday (Dec 3), according to a Reuters tally, as the region braces for the new Omicron variant at a time when hospitals in some countries are already strained by the current surge.

More than 15 countries in Europe have reported confirmed cases of the new variant that has rattled financial markets. The European Union's public health agency said on Thursday that the Omicron variant could be responsible for more than half of all COVID-19 infections in Europe within a few months.

Even before the discovery of Omicron, Europe was pandemic's epicentre with 66 out of every 100 new infections each day coming from European countries, according to a Reuters analysis.

Eastern Europe has 33 per cent of the total reported cases and about 53 per cent of the total reported deaths in Europe. It makes up 39 per cent of the region's population.

The United Kingdom has so far reported the highest total number of coronavirus cases in the region followed by Russia, France and Germany.

The Reuters data shows the pace of the pandemic has picked up speed in the second half of 2021. Europe has reported highest daily average of 359,000 new cases in second half as compared with highest daily cases of about 241,000 a day in the first half of the year.

It took 136 days for the European region to go from 50 million cases to 75 million, compared with 194 days it took to get from 25 to 50 million while the first 25 million cases were reported in 350 days.

To deal with that surge, several European governments reimposed limits on activity, ranging from Austria's full lockdown to a partial lockdown in the Netherlands and restrictions on the unvaccinated in parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Vaccine hesitancy is a global phenomenon, but experts say central Europeans may be particularly sceptical, decades after the collapse of Communist rule eroded public trust in state institutions.

In Latvia, one of the least vaccinated countries in the EU, bodies at the morgue ended up stacked on top of each other, unclaimed for days, as relatives fight queues at cemeteries to bury them. Hospitals in the Czech Republic, where only 62per cent of the population has gotten at least one dose, are strained by the number of COVID patients.

Germany's air force has transferred COVID patients from full hospitals to others within the country using "flying intensive care units."

In Ukraine, where only 30 per cent have gotten at least a first dose, the average number of COVID deaths a day recently set records//CNA