Countries leading the drive to resolve concerns about Iran’s nuclear program welcomed on Wednesday the new US administration’s readiness to engage with Tehran, a German official said.
Foreign Ministry officials from Germany and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the UK, China, France, Russia and the US — met on Wednesday in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt, for their first meeting since US President Barack Obama took office.
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice has said Obama’s administration would engage in “direct diplomacy” with Iran. In his inaugural address, Obama addressed leaders of hostile countries by saying that “we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
The US was represented at the closed-doors meeting by the US State Department’s third-ranking official, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns — a career diplomat who also served under the administration of former president George W. Bush.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Burns would report back directly to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on his discussions in Wiesbaden. Wood said Burns was not able to tell the meeting how soon the Obama administration would complete its review of US policy on Iran.
“Obviously, he’s not able to communicate any kind of timeframe,” Wood said. “As I said, that process will have to run its course, but obviously, we’re very committed to trying to do it as swiftly as possible.”
“The readiness of the new administration to reach out to Iran was explicitly welcomed by all at today’s meeting in Wiesbaden,” German Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner said at a government news conference in Berlin.
He underlined Germany’s hopes that Iran would respond positively to the new overtures from Washington.
“We hope that this outstretched hand will not be seen as a sign of weakness in Tehran,” he said.
Ploetner said Wednesday’s meeting offered “an important opportunity to stress again the cohesion and the unity” of the six countries.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NASA on Saturday rolled out its towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft as it began preparations for its first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. The maneuver, which takes up to 12 hours, would allow the US space agency to begin a string of tests for the Artemis 2 mission, which could blast off as early as Feb. 6. The immense orange and white SLS rocket, and the Orion vessel were slowly wheeled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and painstakingly moved 6.5km to Launch Pad 39B. If the
RSS