The United States and Iran join the remaining signatories of the 2015 nuclear agreement today for talks aimed at bringing the two countries back into compliance (Al Jazeera) with the deal. Washington and Tehran have both said they want to rejoin the deal, but doing so likely won’t be easy (NYT) and will take time.

Iranian officials have refused to participate in direct talks with U.S. officials until Washington lifts heavy sanctions reimposed by President Donald Trump when he withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018. The Joe Biden administration maintains that Iran should stop enriching uranium (NPR) beyond its agreed-to levels before it lifts any sanctions. European representatives are expected to act as intermediaries between Iran and the United States today. Both U.S. and Iranian officials tried to lower expectations (RFE/RL) ahead of the talks.

During a ninety-minute phone call yesterday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi that Japan should not join the United States (SCMP) in sanctioning China over its alleged abuses in Xinjiang and its crackdown in Hong Kong. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will visit U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington next week. 

North Korea: The country announced that it will not participate (Yonhap) in the Tokyo Olympics in July due to concerns about COVID-19, according to state media, dimming South Korean hopes of using the Olympics to kick-start talks with North Korea.

Voters in four states and a union territory are casting ballots in assembly elections (Al Jazeera) as COVID-19 cases surge throughout India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party seeks to gain influence in the northeastern and southern regions, urged people to “vote in record numbers.”

The President’s Inbox podcast looks at India’s democratic backsliding.

Bangladesh: Rescuers continue to recover bodies (AP) from waters where a ferry capsized on Sunday. Authorities ordered an investigation into the incident, in which at least thirty-four people died.

President Reuven Rivlin granted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the opportunity to form a government (Haaretz) after last month’s deadlocked vote, Israel’s fourth election in two years, though Rivlin also said no candidate had a real chance of successfully forming a government. Netanyahu, who received the most endorsements from lawmakers, has twenty-eight days to build a coalition.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan is creating a committee (Bloomberg) to advise her on COVID-19, signaling a rejection of her predecessor John Magufuli’s denial of the disease’s severity. Magufuli, who died last month, stopped his government from publishing COVID-19 infection data and said Tanzania would not procure vaccines.

For CFR’s Africa in Transition blog, Nolan Quinn discusses Magufuli’s death and the challenges Suluhu faces.

Sudan: The United Nations said at least forty people have been killed (AFP) in West Darfur State over the past three days amid clashes between Arab and non-Arab ethnic groups. Sudan’s government declared a state of emergency and deployed troops to the region.

European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara today in an effort to improve relations (DW) damaged by issues including migration and Turkey’s disputes with Cyprus and Greece.  

Russia: Jailed dissident Alexey Navalny is “seriously ill,” his lawyer confirmed after a letter by Navalny was published saying he had a fever and cough (Guardian). Navalny declared a hunger strike last week to protest prison conditions. His supporters plan to rally today outside of the prison where he is detained.

Citing a surge in COVID-19 cases, Chile’s Senate approved President Sebastian Pinera’s request to postpone by five weeks the election (AFP) of a commission that will rewrite the country’s dictatorship-era constitution. The lower house of Congress still needs to approve the decision. Chileans overwhelmingly voted in favor of rewriting the constitution last year.

Guatemala: U.S. Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle Ricardo Zuniga met with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei yesterday, the start of Zuniga’s visit to the region (Reuters) aimed at addressing increasing migration to the United States. Zuniga will visit El Salvador later this week.

CFR’s Paul J. Angelo explains why Central American migrants are arriving at the U.S. southern border.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on countries to join the United States in establishing a global minimum tax (FT) for companies as the Biden administration attempts to crack down on tax avoidance, in part to fund its massive infrastructure proposal.