The Interview

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh spoke to FRANCE 24 on the sidelines of the Normandy World Peace Forum. The diplomat reiterated that Tehran was ready to resume talks with world powers on Iran's nuclear programme soon, but cautioned that "details" and "issues" needed to be reviewed beforehand. The biggest issue, in his view, is the removal of the "800 new unilateral and illegal" sanctions imposed on Iran after Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the nuclear deal back in May 2018.

Exactly one year after the start of the 44-day war between Azerbaijan and Armenia for the control of the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev granted an exclusive interview to FRANCE 24 from the capital Baku. Aliyev said Azerbaijan was ready to "work on a future peace agreement" with Armenia, but warned that any move by Yerevan to reclaim territory lost in last year's war would be met with a fierce response by his country.

Costa Rica abolished its army back in 1948, and 99 percent of its energy is renewable. The small country is an exception in Latin America. Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada sat down for an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24. Ahead of November's COP26 conference in Glasgow, he laid out several concrete proposals to fight climate change and sounded the alarm, saying: "The biggest challenge of this generation is decarbonisation and fighting climate change."

Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has slammed the ongoing submarine dispute with France as a "foreign policy and national security debacle" for his country. Rudd told FRANCE 24 that France had "every right to be angry" over the sudden loss of a multibillion-euro submarine contract with Australia, after Canberra chose to buy US nuclear submarines instead. He also called for a parliamentary probe into the decision by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Exiled Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya granted an interview to FRANCE 24 and RFI during a visit to Paris. More than a year after the disputed presidential election that saw Alexander Lukashenko win a controversial sixth term and led to a crackdown on the opposition, Lukashenko remains in power, despite Western sanctions. Tikhanovskaya, who says she won last year's election, discussed the next steps for the beleaguered opposition and urged France to "take on the role of mediator" in an international dialogue on Belarus's political crisis.

Dr. Habiba Sarabi is one of four women who took part in the negotiations with the Taliban in Doha at the end of 2020. She is also the first woman to have ruled an Afghan province, that of Bamiyan. Sarabi, who was in Doha when the Taliban took power, spoke to us from the Turkish city of Izmir, where she now lives. She called the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan "a big mistake", branding the US pullout "irresponsible".

In an interview with FRANCE 24 from South Africa, Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine said he was "definitely the elected president of Uganda". Wine, who unsuccessfully ran for the country's top job in January, accused President Yoweri Museveni of "mass murder" and called on the Ugandan people to "liberate themselves" from a "dictatorship". Comparing Museveni to ousted dictators Robert Mugabe, Omar al-Bashir and Muammar Gaddafi, Wine predicted it was "just a matter of time" before the president "ends up in the dustbin of history".

FRANCE 24 spoke to Saad Mohseni, the chairman and chief executive of the Moby Group, a conglomerate which owns several media outlets in Afghanistan. He believes the world should "engage with the Taliban", saying "there's an opportunity for them to moderate their policies". Mohseni noted that to his surprise, Afghanistan's new masters have so far let Moby Group's journalists carry on working.

France 24 hosts Peter Maurer, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Maurer just returned from Afghanistan, where he witnessed the worsening humanitarian situation and met with the Taliban, the country's new rulers. He hopes the ICRC will continue to bring humanitarian aid, and says he is "optimistic" even if the operations are likely to be "complex".

In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni condemned this week's coup d’état in Guinea, describing it as "a step backwards". The Ugandan president said the coup leaders should face sanctions and "get out". Museveni also discussed several other security topics concerning Africa, as well as the Afghan crisis.