China Urges US To Respond Positively To Iran's Concerns In Nuclear Talks

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says his country has urged the US to respond positively to Iran's "reasonable" concerns in the year-long nuclear talks. 

Iran’s ambassador to China, Mohammad Keshavarzzadeh, said on Thursday that Wang made the remarks in a phone talk with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

He said the BRICS summit – a conference attended by the heads of state of the five member states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- the issue of Afghanistan as well as the latest developments in Iran nuclear talks were among the topics of the conversation. 

While China supports pushing forward the Vienna negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, Beijing has kept close communication with Tehran since the talks stalled in March, reportedly because of Iran’s insistence for the removal of its Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

Earlier in the week, Tehran again blamed Washington for lack of progress in talks, saying it is ready to resume negotiations to achieve a “good deal”. But a good deal for Iran means something very different from what the US says is possible.

The Biden Administration that came to office with a promise to restore the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, says that it is ready to lift nuclear-related sanctions imposed by its predecessor but does not want to discuss “extraneous issues,” meaning sanctions imposed by the Trump administration over support for terrorism or other violations by Iran and Iranian entities.