Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi yesterday was to meet in Geneva with leading European counterparts, who hoped to open a window for a diplomatic solution to the week-old war that has seen Israeli airstrikes target Iranian nuclear and military sites and Tehran firing back.
British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy, who was to meet Araghchi together with his French and German counterparts and the EU’s foreign policy chief, said that “a window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution,” while agreeing with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.”
The talks would be the first face-to-face meeting between Western and Iranian officials since the start of the conflict.
Photo: AFP
Lammy was traveling to Geneva after meeting in Washington with Rubio and US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
German Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul said the US was aware and supportive of the meeting taking place in Geneva.
“Iran should be mindful that it needs to show a new level of seriousness and trustworthiness if it wants to avoid a prolongation of the war,” he said.
Photo: REUTERS
French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs spokesman Christophe Lemoine said the diplomatic route would be the only way to ensure Iran respects its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“Military solutions are not long-term solutions,” he told French radio station Cnews.
However, Araghchi said his country has “nothing to discuss” with the US as long as Israel continues its strikes on Iran, but is open to “dialogue” with others, although not negotiations.
Araghchi was also due to address the UN Human Rights Council yesterday, the body’s spokesman said.
Trump has been weighing whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but the US’ “bunker-buster” bombs.
On Wednesday, he said he would decide within two weeks whether the US military would get directly involved in the war, given the “substantial chance” for renewed negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the European diplomats would make a “comprehensive, diplomatic and technical offer of negotiation” to Iran.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS