Washington and its European allies, in a diplomatic coup, are gradually enlisting Chinese support on how to deal with Iran and its suspicious nuclear activities, US and European officials said on Wednesday.
Beijing's backing before a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday adds additional clout to an ambitious international Iran strategy that has recently seen Russia join the Americans and Europeans in pressuring Iran to give up technology that could make nuclear arms.
For months, Iran has relied on Beijing and Moscow to fend off a US-backed push to have it hauled before the UN Security Council. While the Americans and Europeans have opted not to lobby for referral at yesterday's meeting of the 35-nation IAEA board, they could resume their efforts at a later board session if they judge that the Russians, Chinese and other key nations will not stand in their way.
A European official said that "the Chinese are very, very constructive and on board with the [US]-European position" -- engaging Iran on giving up uranium enrichment, while indirectly keeping the possibility of Security Council action alive.
The official, who demanded anonymity in exchange for discussing confidential strategy on how to contain Iran on the nuclear front, was summing up a readout of a high-level London meeting last Friday.
A US official suggested the Americans had started sharing intelligence on Iran's nuclear programme with Beijing. While still opposed to Security Council referral, the Chinese were "moving closer to the European and US position," he said.
The London meeting was officially billed as a session on Iran attended by US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and senior officials from France, Britain and Germany, nations that have taken the lead in recent months in negotiating with Iran on renouncing its enrichment ambitions.
But Burns later acknowledged that the Russians and Chinese were also present, and the diplomats and officials said that South Africa and Brazil also attended.
Those key nonaligned IAEA board members also have opposed past moves to have Iran hauled before the Security Council. Their presence in London suggested a growing willingness on the part of referral opponents to listen to the US-European strategy.
Just a few days earlier, US President George W. Bush met with Chinese leaders in Beijing for talks that touched on Iran and other international trouble spots.
The main issue of international concern is Iran's refusal to give up its right to enrichment, which can be used to generate power but also to make weapons-grade material for nuclear warheads. Iran says it wants only to make fuel, but international concern is growing that the programme could be misused.
A plan floated in recent weeks foresees moving any Iranian enrichment plan to Russia. There, in theory, Moscow would supervise the process to make sure enrichment is only to fuel levels.
But Iran insists it wants to master the complete fuel cycle domestically. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday that, while his country was willing to resume formal talks with key European powers on its nuclear programme, "naturally we aim to have enrichment on Iran's territory."
Currently, Iran's enrichment programme is frozen. But negotiations between Iran and France, Britain and Germany -- the so-called "EU-3" -- broke off in August after Iran restarted a linked activity -- the conversion of raw uranium into the gas that is used as the feed stock in enrichment.
While the Americans and Europeans publicly insist they want a negotiated solution with Iran on enrichment, they have acknowledged in background conversations that they would expect additional support from nations now opposed to Security Council referral if Tehran continues to dig in its heels.
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
US President Donald Trump on Friday said Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilize the region. Protesters and security forces on Thursday clashed in several Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday last week went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement that has swept into other parts of the country. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
RSS