US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, traveled to Germany for meetings on Afghanistan, where he and his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, jointly organized a meeting with allies and partners on Afghanistan yesterday. 

The meeting was attended by delegations of Germany, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, India, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, the UK, Uzbekistan, the European Union, NATO, and the UN.

The US Secretary of State called for unity among the partners to mitigate a possible humanitarian crisis as well as political movements, in order to ensure the safe passage of foreign and Afghan citizens by the Taliban, the creation of an inclusive government that respects fundamental human rights.

The United States, he said, will continue to use economic, diplomatic, and political means to uphold the rights of the Afghan people, especially women and girls, and to ensure that Afghanistan does not become a haven for terrorist and extremist groups and politicians. 

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At the same time, the head of American diplomacy indicates that Washington is “very close” to abandoning its efforts to return to the nuclear deal due to the deadlock talks and lack of cooperation from the Iranian side.

The Iranian president warned today that the “counterproductive” stance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could be an obstacle to the revival of Tehran’s nuclear deal with the great powers. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) yesterday denounced Iran’s lack of cooperation, which is blocking the monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program. The IAEA, in its report to its members, argues that no progress has been made in two critical areas: uranium traces found in many old, undeclared nuclear facilities have not been explained and it does not have access to certain monitoring mechanisms to continue to oversee Iran’s nuclear program.

German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, said he had called his new Iranian counterpart and urged him to “return to the negotiating table quickly”.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, however, said today that his country was showing “transparency” in its nuclear activities. Iran’s serious cooperation with the IAEA shows Iran’s desire for transparency in its nuclear activities, Raisi told European Council President, Charles Michel, according to Iranian state media. 

He also added that in the event of a counterproductive approach by the IAEA, it would not make sense to expect Iran to react constructively. Any counterproductive measure on the part of the IAEA also disrupts the course of the negotiations, the Iranian side claims.

Source: CNA

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