Photos taken on November 10, 2019 show the Iranian flag at Iran’s Bucher nuclear power plant at the official ceremony, which begins work at the facility’s second reactor.
Atta Kenare | AFP via Getty Images
Senior diplomats from Iran, Russia and China met in Beijing on Friday for talks on Tehran’s nuclear issue, days after Tehran refused a “order” to resume dialogue on Iran’s nuclear programme, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.
In 2015, Iran signed contracts with the US, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany to agree to curb the nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions. But in 2018, Donald Trump, a year after his first term as president of the United States, escaped from the agreement.
Last week, Trump said he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, proposing nuclear talks, adding, “There are two ways we can handle Iran: military, or you make a deal.”
Iranian President Masuud Pezeshkian replied that he would not negotiate with the United States while he was “threatened” and that Iran would not “order” an “order.”
Iran was even more furious after 15 members of the UN Security Council (US, France, Greece, Panama, South Korea and the UK) held a closure meeting this week to discuss the nuclear program. Tehran said the meeting was a “misuse” by the UN Security Council.
In preparation for Beijing talks on Friday, attended by deputy ministers of China, Russia and Iran, China said it hoped that the trilateral meeting would help create “conditions” for the early resumption of dialogue and negotiations.
Iran has long denied its commitment to nuclear weapons development. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency warned last month that Tehran is “dramatically” accelerating uranium enrichment to about 90% weapons grade levels.
