China Urges US To Respond Positively To Iran's Concerns In Nuclear Talks
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says his country has urged the US to respond positively to Iran's "reasonable" concerns in the year-long nuclear talks.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says his country has urged the US to respond positively to Iran's "reasonable" concerns in the year-long nuclear talks.
Iran’s ambassador to China, Mohammad Keshavarzzadeh, said on Thursday that Wang made the remarks in a phone talk with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
He said the BRICS summit – a conference attended by the heads of state of the five member states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- the issue of Afghanistan as well as the latest developments in Iran nuclear talks were among the topics of the conversation.
While China supports pushing forward the Vienna negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, Beijing has kept close communication with Tehran since the talks stalled in March, reportedly because of Iran’s insistence for the removal of its Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
Earlier in the week, Tehran again blamed Washington for lack of progress in talks, saying it is ready to resume negotiations to achieve a “good deal”. But a good deal for Iran means something very different from what the US says is possible.
The Biden Administration that came to office with a promise to restore the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, says that it is ready to lift nuclear-related sanctions imposed by its predecessor but does not want to discuss “extraneous issues,” meaning sanctions imposed by the Trump administration over support for terrorism or other violations by Iran and Iranian entities.
Yair Lapid, Israeli foreign minister and due to be prime minister when Biden arrives July 13, told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken by phone Tuesday that the president’s trip to Saudi Arabia and Israel “would have significant implications for the region and the fight against Iran, as well as immense potential to significantly improve regional stability and security," an Israeli foreign ministry statement said. Israeli Défense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday that Israel was building a US-sponsored air-defense system aimed at curbing drone or missile strikes by Iran and its allies.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was Tuesday in Egypt and Jordan, and is due to visit Turkey, repairing his image after the 2018 killing in Istanbul of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggithat US intelligence concluded was done on the prince’s orders. In a move condemned by human rights groups, Turkey in April transferred the Khashoggi murder case to Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi crown prince, whose government has given significant financial support to the Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who seized power in 2014 from the elected Muslim Brotherhood government, reportedly agreed $7.7 billion in agreements over food, transport, energy and pharmaceuticals. Egypt, the world’s largest importer of wheat, faces food shortages due to the Ukraine crisis.
While Saudi Arabia quietly favored Israel’s 2020 ‘normalization’ agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, brokered by US President Donald Trump and advisor Jared Kushner, it has refrained from establishing diplomatic and formal ties with Israel.
Prince Mohammad’s first visit to Jordan came as Jordan's economy, like Egypt’s, struggles with the knock-on effects of the Ukraine war. Business leaders and officials expressed hope the Saudis will now deliver on past promises of $3 billion investment.
Summit Next Month
The Saudi crown prince and Jordan’s King Abdullah also discussed a summit next month where Biden will meet leaders of the six Sunni-led states of the Gulf Corporation Council, as well as Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt. King Abdullah is credited with the phrase ‘Shia crescent,’ which he used in 2004 to describe Iran’s growing regional influence.
Israel and the UAE inked May 31 a free-trade agreementfollowing up their 2020 ‘normalization’ agreement, and March’s meeting in Negev, Israel, of the foreign ministers of Israel, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, the UAE and the US, is planned as an annual event.
Israel and Saudi Arabia share concerns over Iran’s foreign policy os supporting militant proxies in the region, including Hezbollah and Ansar Allah in Yemen and have supported those who were willing to oppose Iranian influence. The Israeli and Saudi leadership have also opposed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew the US in 2018 and which the Biden administration says it wants to restore.
But while Biden came to office committed to recalibrating Washington’s links with Saudi Arabia, especially in asserting human rights, and initially dealt with Riyadh frostily, relations have thawed, partly as the US feels the need for increased Saudi oil exports to bear down on the rising cost of gasoline.
Domestic politics are also at work in Israel. The government Monday called a national election – the fifth in three years. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has trumpeted a more assertive approach to Iran than opposition leader and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who hopes to return to power.
While there are Israeli security experts who see Bennett’s approach as counter-productive and who disregard talk of an Israeli-Sunni alliance, Bennett has used the phrase ‘Octopus Doctrine’ to describe drone or sabotage attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military sites, a campaign widely believed to also include killing scientists, engineers, and military officers.
With reporting by Reuters
According to Khabar Online, this is a U-turn by Biden who has so far not been attaching importance to Washington's old allies in the region. It appears that both sides have deemed the current situation good for mending their relations.
Mohebali said in his interview with Khabar Online that the developments in Ukraine as well as the suspension of Iran's nuclear negotiations have played their parts in bringing back Washington to its old policy of close ties with Saudi Arabia. The result, said Mohebali, will be a coalition between the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia and other regional players.
During Biden's upcoming visit to the region, Israeli's will have a chance to convince Washington that returning to the JCPOA is meaningless and the US should exert more pressures on Iran, Mohebali said, while the United States could be able to convince Israel to refrain from provocative actions against Tehran.
As these concerns were being aired in Tehran, Israeli defense minister Benny Gantz told the Knesset on Monday that a regional air defense coalition is being formed with US leadership. The effort, he said, has already stopped some Iranian attacks.
This comes while the prospects for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal is becoming increasingly weaker, while Iran desperately needs to revive the JCPOA and have US sanctions lifted in a bid to improve its ailing economy.
A former member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Hshmatollah Falahatpisheh, told Nameh News in an interview on June 20, that Iran will certainly be the big loser if no nuclear deal is reached.
Meanwhile, referring to Iran's defiant reactions to the June 8 IAEA resolution that condemned Tehran's lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Falahatpisheh warned that "it is not the right time for Iran to stand against the IAEA. This will make Tehran's situation even worse."
Pointing out Tehran's weak position, Falahatpisheh said: "Once we could determine our own fate at the negotiating table, but now we have to wait and see what decisions are being made by lobbyists behind the scenes at the IAEA Board of Governors.
Explaining why Iran will be the loser if the negotiations are not fruitful, Falahatpisheh said: "All the agreements Iran signs with other countries, including long-term 20-year contracts, are being concluded under sanctions, so these cannot serve Iran's interests." He added that Iran missed all the chances for a rapprochement with the United States before the war in Ukraine. Now, all countries including Russia only think of their own interests."
He criticized Iranian officials' inaction in the current situation by saying, "It is as if they do not have a good understanding of the situation and do not see the weakening of Iran's currency on a daily basis. While prices are rising, the government increases taxes and redoubles the pressure on the people."
While Falahatpisheh stressed that the government should do away with slogans and take important political decisions to solve the country's problems. Meanwhile, lawmaker Somayeh Rafiei said in an interview with Rouydad24 on Monday: "The people can hardly tolerate the situation any longer…and they
are looking for results and the government needs to introduce essential changes."
