Iran’s foreign minister held a rare meeting with the US and other UN Security Council members on Thursday as Tehran faces the possibility of new UN sanctions over its nuclear program.
UN ambassadors of the US, the UK, France and Russia did not attend the dinner meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki organized by Iran’s UN mission, but sent lower level diplomats. Washington was represented by Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff.
Most other council members sent ambassadors to the dinner at the Iranian ambassador’s residence in Manhattan. They included Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong (李保東), the only chief of mission from the five permanent council members to attend.
Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu indicated there had been no concrete outcome.
“We are not here to negotiate, we are here to exchange frank general ideas,” he told reporters through an interpreter. “There was no talk about sanctions. What is important is that most Security Council members are here.”
He said that Mottaki reiterated Iran’s position “that it has the right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy.”
Wolff declined to comment, except to say that “the dinner was very good.”
Other envoys left without speaking to journalists.
Washington does not have formal diplomatic relations with Iran and rarely participates in meetings with Iranian officials outside of the UN.
It was not immediately clear when a US diplomat last attended a dinner or reception hosted by Iran.
“We see this as an opportunity for Iran to show the council that they’re prepared to play by the rules and meet their obligations,” a US official said before Thursday’s dinner to explain why Washington was taking part. “Iran has been offered many opportunities to prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.”
“This meeting is another indication of the lengths the Iranians are going to to make their case,” he said. “They clearly recognize that the ongoing efforts in the Security Council and elsewhere are isolating them and doing them harm.”
Another Western diplomat on the council said the meeting proved the council was continuing to pursue a “dual-track approach” with Iran — negotiations combined with the threat of sanctions.
“We want to keep talking,” the diplomat said.
Washington and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian atomic energy program. Tehran says that its nuclear ambitions are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity, but has refused to halt sensitive activities that could enable it to develop weapons.
The five permanent members of the Security Council — the US, the UK, France, Russia and China — and Germany have been negotiating for weeks on a draft resolution that would impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program.
The proposal, drafted by the US, calls for new curbs on Iranian banking, a full arms embargo, tougher steps against Iranian shipping, moves against members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and firms they control, and a ban on new investments in Iran’s energy sector.
Diplomats say that both Russia and China have problems with the proposed arms embargo, energy investment ban and other punitive measures.
Washington and its allies had hoped the Security Council could vote on a new UN sanctions resolution by the end of last month, but diplomats said negotiations could drag on at least until next month.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS