China, Russia back Iran as Trump presses for nuclear talks

 
China and Russia stood by Iran on March 14 after the United States demanded nuclear talks with Tehran, with senior Chinese and Russian diplomats saying dialogue should only resume based on "mutual respect" and all sanctions ought to be lifted.

In a joint statement issued after talks with Iran in Beijing, Beijing and Moscow also said they welcomed Iran's reiteration that its nuclear programme was exclusively for peaceful purposes, and that Iran's right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy should be "fully" respected, Reuters reports.

In 2015, Iran reached a deal with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, and agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

But in 2018, Mr Donald Trump, a year into his first term as US president, pulled out of the pact.

"(China, Russia and Iran) emphasised that the relevant parties should be committed to addressing the root cause of the current situation and abandoning sanction, pressure or threat of force," China's Vice-Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu told reporters after the meeting.

China, Russia and Iran also emphasised the necessity of terminating all "unlawful" unilateral sanctions, Mr Ma said.

Mr Ma's meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi came days after Tehran spurned US "orders" to resume dialogue over the nuclear programme.

Last week, Mr Trump said he had sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing nuclear talks, adding that "there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal".

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded that he would not negotiate with the US while being "threatened", and the country would not bow to US "orders" to talk.

Iran was further enraged after six of the United Nations Security Council's 15 members - the US, France, Greece, Panama, South Korea and Britain - held a closed-door meeting this week to discuss its nuclear programme.

That meeting was also criticised by China, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying on March 14 that the "hasty" intervention by the Council was not helpful in building trust.

Despite Tehran's defiant rhetoric, engaging with the US to hammer out a nuclear deal may be the more pragmatic option, with crippling sanctions weighing on the Iranian economy and stoking public unrest, according to Iranian officials.

Iran has long denied that it is working on developing a nuclear weapon. But the International Atomic Energy Agency said in February that Iran was "dramatically" accelerating enrichment of uranium to near the roughly 90 per cent weapons-grade level.

In February, Mr Trump restored his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"The Iranian nuclear programme is peaceful in nature," said Iran's Mr Gharibabadi on March 14.

"It is under the surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran is receiving huge inspections from the IAEA, and our nuclear programme has never been diverted to non-peaceful purposes."

The main root cause of the current situation is the unilateral US withdrawal from the 2015 pact, Mr Gharibabadi said.
China hopes all parties will meet each other halfway and resume dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible, Mr Wang told the Iranian and Russian ministers separately after the trilateral meeting.

The US should show "sincerity" and return to talks with Iran as soon as possible, said Mr Wang.

Separately, Iran's Foreign Ministry on March 14 condemned new sanctions imposed by the US on the Iranian oil minister and some Hong Kong-flagged vessels that are part of a "shadow fleet" that helps disguise Iranian oil shipments.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the new sanctions were "clear evidence of the falsehood... of repetitive claims by American officials about their readiness for negotiations", Iranian state media reported.