A meeting between top diplomats from the three countries could potentially be ready for updated negotiations on the nuclear program.
Diplomats from Iran, Russia and China are meeting with Beijing for consultations on Tehran’s nuclear program, which could lead to negotiations after years of delay.
Beijing hopes that the three countries will find a “diplomatic” solution to Iran’s nuclear issue, Chinese state media reported on Friday.
“In the current situation, all parties believe that all parties should remain calm and restrained to avoid escalating the nuclear situation in Iran, or even walking towards conflict and conflict,” Mao Zedong, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters before the meeting.
According to Chinese media, Chinese deputy foreign minister Ma Chaoks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Riabav, and Iranian Foreign Minister Kazem Galibabadi “exchanged opinions on Iran’s nuclear issues and other common concerns.”
Donald Trump, a year after his first year as US president in 2018, agreed that Iran reached 2015 with the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, Germany and the European Union, and Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions.
Tehran continued to adhere to the terms of the transaction, which was considered a milestone in the management of then-US President Barack Obama, but after Trump finished his contract, he slowly began rolling back its commitments.
The Beijing meeting between the three diplomats follows a series of overtures from Trump to return to the White House in January to resume nuclear talks with Tehran.
This week, the US president sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for new consultations, warning that the US is within the country’s right to take military action against the nuclear program.
Iranian President Masuud Pezeshkian replied that he would not negotiate with the United States while he was “threatened” and that Iran would not tell us “orders.”
Six of six members of the 15 members of the UN Security Council (US, France, Greece, Panama, South Korea and the UK) became even more furious after holding a closed door meeting this week to discuss the nuclear program. Tehran said the meeting was a “misuse” by the UN Security Council.
Apart from Friday, Iran denounced the US for “hypocrisy” after Washington announced new sanctions targeting the oil minister, calling it “another clear evidence of falsehood in these statements and another sign of hostility towards development.”
Ayatollah Khamenei claims that Tehran has or does not want nuclear weapons, but a recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is close to the requirements for nuclear bombs.