China backs Iran’s nuclear diplomacy ahead of US talks
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a senior Iranian security official on Wednesday that Beijing supports Tehran’s diplomatic efforts on its nuclear programme, days before US-Iran talks are set to resume.
“China values Iran's commitment not to develop nuclear weapons” and “appreciates Iran's diplomatic efforts,” Wang told Ali Shamkhani, political advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, during a meeting in Brazil, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout released Thursday.
Wang said China was “pleased to see ongoing dialogue” between Iran and other parties and supports “necessary cooperation” with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Talks between Iranian and US negotiators are expected to reconvene in Rome on Saturday.
Wang previously worked with Shamkhani on the 2023 China-brokered deal that restored diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
China's Wang Yi, Iran's Ali Shamkhani, Saudi Arabia's Musaad bin Mohammed Al Aiban pose for pictures during a meeting in Beijing, China March 10, 2023.
A deadly explosion at Iran’s Shahid Rajaei port may be linked to a shipment of ammonium perchlorate, a chemical used in missile fuel, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
The blast, which killed at least 70 people and injured more than 1,000, struck near the terminal of Sina Port and Marine Services, part of Bonyad Mostazafan, a foundation overseen by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and sanctioned by the US for supporting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Iranian officials have not confirmed the cause, but AP said local reports point to a mysterious cargo and noted the port had recently received chemical components used in ballistic missile fuel. A reddish cloud seen before the blast resembles those from previous explosions involving ammonium perchlorate or ammonium nitrate.
“The cloud likely was nitrogen dioxide, which can be produced when burning ammonium perchlorate or ammonium nitrate,” said Andrea Sella, chemistry professor at University College London. “The reports about the missile fuel shipment suggest it was ammonium perchlorate.”
Surveillance footage showed the reddish cloud seconds before the explosion, similar to the 2020 Beirut port blast and the 1988 PEPCON disaster in Nevada.
Sina’s CEO Saeed Jafari blamed the incident on “a false statement about the dangerous goods and delivering it without documents and tags.” Authorities have restricted access to the site.
"The (JCPOA) was fundamentally flawed because the sanctions sunset, and yet the mandate as to how you're supposed to conduct yourself - not enriching, not weaponizing - that did not sunset," US envoy Steve Witkoff told the Cats and Cosby radio show referring to a 2015 nuclear deal from which President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
"So you and I both know, in business, one-way options don't make sense. They're not fair, and that was a one-way option for the Iranians, and it's got to be rectified," Witkoff told interviewers John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby.
Some containers of imported goods arriving at the Rajai port lack standard codes and numbering, Iran's minister of labor said on Wednesday.
Tehran has put a ban on Iranian media covering last week's explosion at the Persian Gulf port where a huge blast killed at least 70 people and injured more than 1,000, according to official stats.
“What is clear is that this issue of enrichment is key, is central to the agreement. And below that, you have a number of alternatives which they are discussing," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said in an interview with U.S. News and World Report.
"I don't think they are looking at a JCPOA by any other name," Grossi added. “It would be something perhaps less sophisticated ... It's something bold, it’s something clear, it’s something straight that will give everybody the assurance that there is no path to a bomb.”
Grossi added that the talks appeared to be progressing.
"This process is gaining momentum, is gaining traction. The conversations are getting more to some technical details, because, of course, this is like an incremental process. It's a conversation."
Outspoken Iran hawk senator Ted Cruz and a controversial former nuclear negotiator and senior Iranian diplomat turned Princeton academic Seyed Hossein Mousavian have gotten into an online tussle after the Texas lawmaker called for his deportation.
"Dear Senator Ted Cruz, Yesterday, April 28, in your interview with Fox News, you called for my dismissal from Princeton University and made baseless accusations," Mousavian wrote on X.
"I invite you to a public debate so that, while hearing responses to these claims, we can leave the judgment to the American people," he added.
Short of a meeting, Mousavian recommended Cruz read his books, emphasized he supports President Donald Trump's push for an Iranian nuclear deal and said a prison sentence means he cannot return to Iran.
Cruz was unmoved by the invitation and torched Mousavian in a curt reply.
"I try not to be in the room with people linked to Iranian terrorists who have murdered dozens of dissidents."
"Your books are unreadable, and the only debate you should be having is with DHS agents, at the end of which you should be deported," the senator added, referring to the US Department of Homeland Security.
Mousavian was ambassador to Germany when Bonn-based Iranian exile Fereydoun Farrokhzad, an singer and outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic, was murdered in 1992 apparently by agents of the Islamic Republic.
A veteran Iranian commander in March detailed the state's role in his killing, in remarks Mousavian said left him "stunned, amazed, and shocked."
In 2023, several top Republicans, including House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and now-DOGE chairman Aaron Bean of Florida, wrote to Princeton with their concerns about Mousavian's tenure.
Several Republican lawmakers wrote an open letter to Princeton in 2023 expressing their concerns over Mousavian's employment.
"A German court found (the Iranian embassy in Germany) served as the headquarters for the planning of the 1992 assassination of four Iranian dissidents," the letter said, referring to the 1994 assassination of four Iranian-Kurdish dissidents in a Berlin restaurant.
"Did Princeton consult with US government officials regarding the hiring of Mousavian?"
