This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
China, Russia, and Iran demanded an end to Washington’s “illegal, unilateral sanctions” on Tehran, after three-party talks on the Iranian nuclear issue in Beijing on March 14.
But a leading sanctions expert involved in past nuclear talks with Iran says lifting sanctions as a precursor to negotiations is neither likely nor advisable.
The meeting included Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.
“We conducted in-depth exchanges of views on the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions. We emphasized the necessity of ending all illegal unilateral sanctions,” Ma said after the talks concluded.
“The relevant parties should work to eliminate the root causes of the current situation and abandon sanctions, pressure, and threats of the use of force,” he added.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who welcomed the Iranian and Russian diplomats ahead of the meeting, was set to have his own meeting with them later during the day.
The Iranian position has been that it will not negotiate with the Trump as long as his “maximum pressure” campaign is in force and sanctions in place.
“I don’t think there’s any likelihood the Trump administration is going to drop sanctions against Iran just to talk. I wouldn’t advise him to,” said Richard Nephew, the lead sanctions expert for the US negotiating team that clinched a landmark nuclear deal with Iran in 2015.
“At the end of the day, that’s a concession for a talk, as opposed to a concession for actual action,” he added.
Tehran and Moscow have strengthened relations in recent years as Iran’s disputes with the United States have mounted. Both nations have had close ties to China.
Moscow, which is engaged in efforts to normalize relations with Washington, has offered to mediate talks between the United States and the Islamic republic.
Both China and Russia have benefited from Iran’s stand-off with the United States. China has been buying Iranian oil at a sharp discount while Russia has been using Iranian drones against Ukraine. But if tension with the United States spirals, it may have consequences that both Moscow and Beijing would want to avoid.
“I’m not sure that the Russians or the Chinese each have an interest in a deal. I think they have an interest in not having a bigger crisis,” Nephew said.
This week, the three countries conducted naval drills in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz in a show of force in the tense Middle East, with participating ships stopping at Iran’s Chabahar Port.
Attention on Iran’s nuclear issues has intensified in recent days after US President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to Tehran urging a resumption of nuclear talks and warning of possible military action if Iran refused.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on March 13 said it would conduct a “thorough assessment” before responding to Trump’s letter.
“The letter was received last night and is currently being reviewed,” spokesman Esmail Baqaei was quoted by the official IRNA news agency, adding: “A decision on how to respond will be made after a thorough assessment.”
Trump, during his first term, quit the nuclear deal, which had imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Trump said the accord was not strong enough to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and he accused Tehran of fomenting extremist violence in the region — a charge denied by Iran.
China, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany had also signed the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015.
Following the US withdrawal in 2018, Tehran eventually started expanding its nuclear program, while efforts to reach a new accord through indirect talks have failed. Tehran claims its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes.
Iran has floated the possibility of resuming indirect talks, but Nephew dismissed its viability.
“To be clear, I think indirect talks have been a disaster. It has been both a strategic mistake…as well as something that actually limits the possibility of negotiations being successful,” he said, adding that Trump’s letter was unlikely to change the Iranian position.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations — the United States, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan — labeled Iran the “principal source of regional instability” in a joint statement on March 14.
They said Tehran “must never be allowed” to develop and acquire nuclear weapons, adding, “Iran must now change course, de-escalate and choose diplomacy.”
The United States said on March 13 that it was sanctioning Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad and a number of Hong Kong-flagged ships that are part of a shadow fleet “on which Iran depends to deliver its oil” to China. Tehran blasted the move, calling it “‘hypocrisy.”
