The Deputy Foreign Minister Of Russia-Teheran Will Discuss Iran's Nuclear Economy In Beijing This Week

DOCUMENTATION / Spokesman of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mao Ning at a press conference in Beijing on Friday (3/1/2025) (ANTARA / Desca Lidya Natalia)

JAKARTA - China will hold a meeting in Beijing with Russia and Iran on Iran's "nuclear problem" this Friday. The two countries will send a deputy foreign minister for discussion.

Relations between Iran and Russia have been getting closer since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, with a strategic cooperation agreement signed in January. Both have good relations with China.

Reported by Reuters on Wednesday, March 12, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu will chair the meeting.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said the meeting would follow a closed meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York on the same day regarding the expansion of Iran's uranium supply near weapons levels.

Last week, Russia said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov discussed international efforts to deal with Iran's nuclear program with its ambassador, Kazem Jalali, after a Russian report agreed to assist US President Donald Trump's administration in communicating with Iran.

Tehran has long denied wanting to develop nuclear weapons. However, UN atomic watchdog IAEA warned Iran was accelerating uranium enrichment to 60% purity, approaching a weapons level of around 90%.

Iran reached an agreement, a Joint Comprehensive Plan for Action, with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States in 2015, lifting sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

However, Washington left the plan in 2018 during Trump's first term, and Iran began to move away from its nuclear-related commitments.

China says it supports Iran in protecting its legitimate rights and calls for the resumption of Iran's nuclear negotiations.