High stakes as China hosts Iran and Russia for nuclear talks | Global News Avenue

It has been a time of austerity for Iran and the international community in nearly a decade since World Powers reached a historic deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program.

Now, the country is closer to a nuclear bomb than ever before.

The agreement aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons will expire later this year.

“It’s a real fork at the road moment,” said Dr. Sanam Vakil, a London think tank Chatham House. “There is no meaningful successful diplomacy, we can see Iran’s weapons, or we can see a military strike against the Islamic Republic.”

The deal has been difficult to negotiate in the nearly two years of Barack Obama’s presidency, imposing restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for ease of sanctions on the country’s economy.

But Iran gradually stopped keeping its promises after Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 with U.S. sanctions reinstatement.

It accelerates its uranium enrichment – ​​used to make reactor fuel but may also be nuclear bombs – to approach the weapon level.

Experts say Iran will now be able to enrich enough materials to make a single nuclear weapon in less than a week.

As a result, the United States and the other five parties in the deal – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, conducted a series of emergency diplomatic activities.

A closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council discussed Iran’s nuclear program on Wednesday.

China is holding talks with Iran and Russia on Friday to seek a “diplomacy” resolution.

“Under the current circumstances, we believe that all parties should remain calm and restrained to avoid escalating the nuclear situation in Iran and even moving towards confrontation and conflict,” Mao Ning, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said this week.

President Trump’s letter was sent in Tehran on Wednesday by a senior diplomat from the United Arab Emirates.

The content has not been made public yet.

But President Trump sent Iran a final televised televised atum last week after imposing new sanctions on Iran as part of the “maximum pressure” campaign: an agreement otherwise.

“I wrote them a letter saying ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in the military, it would be a terrible thing.”

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seems to have rejected the idea of ​​a meeting with “bullying” us.

This is also true – publicly – President Masoud Pezeshkian, who previously supported the resurrection of the nuclear deal, in exchange for sanctions.

But the country has been sending mixed messages.

“There are some camps in the country that prefer negotiation,” Dr. Wakir said. “And some camps weaponize the best opportunity for Iran to manage its security.”

The supply of trust in the Trump administration is short.

Dr Vakil added: “They have seen his unstable, very bullying approach to Zelensky (Ukrainian President Vorodimi). And his peculiar advice to Gaza, they do not want to be appointed to this position.”

Iran hates the humiliation of holding a gun on its head. But it is vulnerable for now – last year’s Israeli air strikes weakened military, which is believed to have destroyed most air defenses that protect its nuclear program.

Israel has long wanted to remove the facilities.

Iranian authorities continue to insist that the country’s nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

But the international community is becoming increasingly sensitive.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitors the Morgan nuclear agreement – said Iran has enhanced its nuclear energy across the country in different facilities across the country over the past few years.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said its uranium stocks are enriched as high as 60% – close to 90% required for weapons – “grow very, very fast.”

“Iran’s only non-nuclear weapon state, the production and accumulation of highly abundant uranium in Iran is a serious concern,” the IAEA said in its latest report.

However, nuclear regulators are no longer able to accurately verify what Iran is doing, as authorities have removed IAEA surveillance equipment.

Mr Grossi said diplomatic engagement with Iran through any possible channels – is now urgent and “essential”.

On October 18, parties to the 2015 nuclear agreement will lose the ability to impose so-called “Snap-back” UN sanctions on Iran that violates its terms.

Therefore, Britain, France and Germany are now placing the threat of snap-up sanctions in a bid to put pressure while pressure can still be applied.

“We are very clear that we will take any diplomatic measures to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, including the use of them when needed,” said James Kariuki, deputy ambassador to the United Nations.

The stakes are high for Iran and the world.

Another London-based think tank, another International Strategic Institute, is dedicated to preventing nuclear proliferation at the International Strategic Institute.

He told the BBC that it would take months or more to design and assemble deliverable weapons.

“Iran is closer to nuclear weapons capabilities than ever before,” he said. “But it is unclear whether it has decided to develop nuclear weapons or is looking for negotiation leverage.”