China and Russia yesterday joined Iran in denouncing US sanctions, and backed efforts to restore a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran that US President Donald Trump abandoned in his first term and now wants to replace.
The three countries — all sanctioned by the US to varying degrees — stressed the need to end unilateral restrictions and urged the resumption of international talks over Iran’s atomic activities at a meeting in Beijing, a joint statement said.
Russia and China were key participants in the agreement signed during former US president Barack Obama’s administration that restricted Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief, before Trump’s withdrawal in 2018.
Photo: AFP
As the standoff drags on, Iran has expanded its stocks of near-bomb grade enriched uranium, while Washington has toughened its sanctions.
Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭) hosted yesterday’s meeting, which was also attended by Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov and his Iranian counterpart, Kazem Gharibabadi.
A separate meeting included Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅).
“Political and diplomatic engagement and dialogue based on the principle of mutual respect remains the only viable and practical option,” Ma told reporters after the meeting.
Last week, Trump reiterated his interest in striking a new nuclear deal with Iran and warned the only alternative for the Islamic republic was to face military action.
The Beijing gathering follows a flurry of diplomatic activity on Iran’s nuclear program as world powers try to evade another crisis, at a time when wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are posing risks to energy prices and the global economy.
Iran has already had at least two rounds of preliminary nuclear talks with diplomats from the UK, France and Germany in Geneva in recent months. Trump also wrote a letter addressed to the Iranian leadership, which was received in Tehran on Wednesday via a top official from the United Arab Emirates.
The contents of the missive are not known and there has been no official response.
The participants in Beijing emphasized the need for all countries to abstain from actions that would undermine the inspection activities of the International Atomic Energy Agency monitors still working in Iran. The UN watchdog last month reported a surge in nuclear activity in Iran over the past few months.
“The situation has reached a critical juncture again. We must buy time for peace, resolve disputes through political and diplomatic means, and oppose the use of force and illegal sanctions,” Wang told reporters.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
Four former Hong Kong opposition lawmakers jailed in the territory’s largest national security case were released yesterday after more than four years in prison, the first among dozens convicted last year to regain their freedom. Former legislators Claudia Mo (毛孟靜), Jeremy Tam (譚文豪), Kwok Ka-ki (郭家麒) and Gary Fan (范國威) were part of a group of 47 public figures — including some of Hong Kong’s best-known democracy advocates — who were charged with subversion in 2021 for holding an informal primary election. The case fell under a National Security Law imposed on the territory by Beijng, and drew international condemnation and warnings
RSS