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Zarif presses efforts to save Iran nuclear deal

Zarif presses efforts to save Iran nuclear deal
Zarif presses efforts to save Iran nuclear deal

2019-05-17 00:00:00 - Source: Baghdad Post

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.





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