A top diplomat said yesterday that Russia's Feb. 16 talks with Iran would cover not only Moscow's offer to enrich Iranian uranium on Russian territory, but also a whole range of issues concerning the two countries, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Moscow "is counting on conducting consultations with Iran on Feb. 16 on the proposed joint venture to enrich uranium," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak was quoted as saying. "Not only the nuclear dossier, but also the whole complex of relations with Iran will be discussed at these consultations in Moscow."
Russia has been urging Tehran not to backpedal on its agreement to the Moscow meeting in spite of its threats to restart its own enrichment activities. Iran says it wants to make fuel through enrichment, but the activity can also generate the nuclear core of warheads.
Russia's proposal for joint enrichment "is intended to remove all the worries around its nuclear program," Kislyak was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, China said yesterday the Iranian nuclear standoff could still be defused through negotiations without a showdown in the UN, and urged countries to intensify efforts for a diplomatic compromise.
China voted for an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution on Iran because it believed that decision would encourage further talks.
"The Iranian nuclear issue should be appropriately resolved through diplomatic negotiations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan (
"We still hope that this kind of resolution will help promote diplomatic resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue within the framework of the IAEA."
Iran has told the IAEA to remove some surveillance equipment from its nuclear facilities by mid-February, a defiant response to an IAEA vote reporting Tehran to the UN Security Council.
The IAEA decision made on Saturday calls for its chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report to it by March 6 on Iran's response to demands that it suspend nuclear enrichment activities and improve cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
ElBaradei may send his report to the Security Council after the IAEA meeting in early March.
But Kong said the resolution did not oblige the IAEA to refer Iran to the Council, and he urged all the sides to intensify diplomatic efforts and called for Iran to abide by the resolution.
"There is still room to resolve the issue through diplomatic negotiations," he said.
Before the IAEA vote, China repeatedly deflected calls from Western countries to refer Iran to the UN Security Council, instead urging Iran to settle the standoff through talks with Britain, France and Germany, known as the EU-3.
On Monday, China's ambassador to the UN, Wang Guangya (王光亞), also called for negotiated settlement between Iran and the European countries.
"China prefers to have the EU-3 continue the negotiations with Iranian's to find a long-term solution on this issue," he reportedly said.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
HOPEFUL FOR PEACE: Zelenskiy said that the war would ‘end sooner’ with Trump and that Ukraine must do all it can to ensure the fighting ends next year Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom early yesterday suspended gas deliveries via Ukraine, Vienna-based utility OMV said, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe. Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it would not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia now only
‘HARD-HEADED’: Some people did not evacuate to protect their property or because they were skeptical of the warnings, a disaster agency official said Typhoon Man-yi yesterday slammed into the Philippines’ most populous island, with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation. Man-yi was still packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph after making its first landfall late on Saturday on lightly populated Catanduanes island. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi as the weather forecaster warned of a “life-threatening” effect from the powerful storm, which follows an unusual streak of violent weather. Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after hitting Catanduanes in the typhoon-prone
RSS