Zarif presses efforts to save Iran nuclear deal
Iran’s foreign minister traveled Friday to China on his
Asian tour aimed at keeping world markets open to Tehran amid an intense
sanctions campaign from the US as tensions across the Arabian Gulf remain high, AP reported.
Concerns about a possible conflict have flared since the
White House ordered warships and bombers to the region to counter an alleged,
unexplained threat from Iran that has seen America order nonessential
diplomatic staff out of Iraq.
Tensions have also ratcheted up in the region after
authorities alleged that a sabotage operation targeted four oil tankers on
Sunday off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, and Iran-aligned rebels in
Yemen claimed responsibility for a drone attack Tuesday on a crucial Saudi oil
pipeline.
Saudi Arabia directly blamed Iran for the drone assault, and
a local newspaper linked to the Al Saud royal family called on Thursday for
America to launch “surgical strikes” on Tehran.
This all takes root in President Donald Trump’s decision
last year to withdraw the US from the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and
world powers and impose wide-reaching sanctions. But Trump took a soft tone
Thursday, a day after tweeting that he expected Iran to look for talks. Asked
if the US might be on a path to war with the Iranians, the president answered,
“I hope not.”
Iranian officials remain skeptical.
Imposing sanctions while seeking talks is like “pointing a
gun at someone and demanding friendship,” said Iranian Gen. Rasool Sanaeirad,
according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.
That comment was echoed by Majid Takht-e Ravanchi, Iran’s
ambassador to the United Nations.
“They want to have the stick in their hands, trying to
intimidate Iran at the same time calling for a dialogue,” Ravanchi told CBS.
“What type of dialogue is this?”
For his part, Trump criticized the media in a tweet Friday
about Iran and added: “At least Iran doesn’t know what to think, which at this
point may very well be a good thing!” Since the White House’s decision May 5 to
deploy the bombers and aircraft carrier, the US government has declined
repeated requests to publicly explain the new threat they perceive coming from
Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif later
responded to Trump on Twitter.
“We in Iran have actually known what to think for
millennia_and about the US, since 1953,” the diplomat wrote, referring to the
CIA’s involvement in the overthrow of Iran’s prime minister at the time. “At
this point, that is certainly ‘a good thing!’”
Then Trump appeared to minutes later respond to Zarif’s
tweet.
“With all of the Fake and Made Up News out there, Iran can
have no idea what is actually going on!” the US president wrote.
On Friday, Zarif arrived in Beijing to speak to his Chinese
counterpart. China was one of the signatories on Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with
world powers, which saw it limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the
lifting of crushing economic sanctions.
“So far, the international community has mainly made
statements instead of saving the deal,” Zarif said, according to a report by
the state-run IRNA news agency. “The practical step is quite clear: economic
relations with Iran should be normalized. This is what the deal clearly
addresses.”
Zarif earlier visited Japan, a major importer of crude oil
from the Arabian Gulf.
Iran recently said it would resume enriching uranium at
higher levels if a new nuclear deal is not reached with Europe by July 7. That
would potentially bring it closer to being able to develop a nuclear weapon,
something Iran insists it has never sought.
The USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group have
yet to reach the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through
which a third of all oil traded at sea passes. A Revolutionary Guard deputy
warned that any armed conflict would affect the global energy market. Iran long
has threatened to be able to shut off the strait.
“If a war happens, the world will suffer from problem in
energy supply,” Gen. Saleh Jokar said, according to a report Friday by the
semi-official Fars news agency.
He also said Iran’s short-range missiles “can easily reach
present warships in the Arabian Gulf,” while noting the 2,000-kilometer
(1,240-mile) range of Iran’s ballistic missiles can reach across the wider Arabian
Gulf.
The US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols the Arabian Gulf from
its base in Bahrain, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, the USS McFaul and the USS Gonzalez, two Arleigh Burke-class
destroyers, transited the strait on Thursday without incident.
Also on Friday, Britain’s Foreign Office advised against all
travel to Iran by British-Iranian dual nationals. The government said the
upgraded travel warning is in response to Iran’s “continued arbitrary detention
and mistreatment” of dual nationals and of Iranian citizens working for
institutions linked to Britain.
Benchmark Brent crude traded near $73 a barrel on Friday, up
around half a percent.