G7 Foreign Ministers reaffirm support for Israel, say Iran can never have nuclear weapons
The G7 Foreign Ministers in their meeting at The Hague said in a Joint Statement that Israel has a right to defend itself and urged Iran to refrain from reconstituting its enrichment activities. They called for resumption of negotiations resulting in a comprehensive, verifiable and durable agreement that addresses Iran's nuclear programme.
For a "sustainable and credible resolution, we call on Iran to urgently resume full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as required by its safeguards obligations and provide the IAEA with verifiable information about all nuclear material in Iran, including by providing access to IAEA inspectors. We condemn calls in Iran for the arrest and execution of IAEA Director General Grossi."
The Foreign Ministers underscored the centrality of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and said it is essential that Iran remains party to and fully implements its obligations under the Treaty.
Iran has already announced its decision to withdraw from the IAEA and expressed lack of faith in NPT.
''We reiterate our commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East. In this context, we reaffirm that Israel has a right to defend itself. We reiterate our support for the security of Israel.''
Reiterating support for the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, the G7 Foreign Ministers urged all parties to avoid actions that could further destabilize the region.
They appreciated Qatar's role in facilitating the ceasefire and expressed solidarity with Qatar and Iraq following the recent strikes by Iran and its proxies and partners against their territory. "We welcome all efforts in the region towards stabilization and de-escalation."
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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Amid trade wars and conflicts, New Delhi must strengthen its associations with BRICS
The BRICS summit in Rio is happening as the global order grapples with two forms of interstate conflicts: Trade wars and regional wars. These conflicts demonstrate the international order's limitations and the existing institutions' inability to contain the crises. States are adopting myriad hedging and balancing strategies to cope with the new challenges. The US is trying to withdraw from and limit its external engagements, while other countries are joining alternative institutions to safeguard their interests. The world is at a juncture where the hegemon cannot ensure compliance of others and the successors are reluctant to provide leadership and take responsibility. Under these circumstances, emerging powers find it advantageous to group together and amplify their influence. Amid a turbulent and unpredictable world order, BRICS functions as a key instrument of a broader hedging and diversification strategy. Members view this as a critical alternative forum that provides a sense of security, status, and collective leadership. BRICS has become a coveted organisation for the Global South. It comprises 11 states with nearly 50 per cent of the global population and about 40 per cent of the global GDP. It is a heterogeneous organisation with no shared history, culture, ideology or territories. It cannot be compared with any other existing organisation given its diversity and uniqueness. Experts often compare it with the G7 because of its global outreach, but the G7 countries have identical political systems and a comparable level of development. The same cannot be said about BRICS. Because BRICS is an organisation of the non-West, it is often viewed as a challenge to the West. It is not without reason that Donald Trump threatened to slap a 100 per cent tariff on BRICS countries if they sought to develop an alternative currency. Many in the West fear that a BRICS currency would weaken the dollar. However, it must be underlined that BRICS is not in the process of developing a new currency. A common currency requires integrating financial institutions and closely coordinating industrial and agricultural policies. BRICS does not have the level of coordination needed and is not pursuing such a goal. Therefore, this Western fear is entirely misplaced. Instead, BRICS is exploring the possibility of amplifying trade in national currencies. The trade between Russia and China is carried out in national currencies. Similarly, a large part of Russia's trade with India and Brazil occurs in local currencies. These states are also trying to set up fixed reference rates for their local currencies, independent of the dollar. The extent of the impact of this process on the dollar is unclear, but BRICS states should expect new threats from the Trump administration. It would be viewed as an attempt at de-dollarisation, and President Trump cannot remain silent for long. In a recent interview, US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, described India's association with BRICS as an irritant which rubbed America the wrong way. Nonetheless, New Delhi will continue to follow a diversified multi-engagement policy, disregarding external pressure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Rio summit, even as Xi Jinping and Putin give it a pass. The BRICS summit in Rio De Janeiro is conspicuous for several reasons: First, following its expansion in 2024 and 2025, it would be the first time that all the members will participate. It provides an important platform for them to socialise, explore the areas of cooperation and develop an understanding of each other's concerns. Further, the BRICS membership enhances the status of new members. However, the expansion of the organisation will also pose coordination and consensus-building challenges. Second, the issue of the Israel-Iran conflict is likely to figure prominently in discussions. A few days ago, BRICS issued a joint statement condemning the Israeli attack on Iran as a violation of international law and the UN Charter. This assumes significance because India had distanced itself from a joint statement at the SCO meeting previously. In a world where states do not want to be seen taking a stand against Trump, Iran finds many supporters at the BRICS forum. Third, the expansion of BRICS has enabled greater representation of the Global South. At a time when the US is withdrawing from its global responsibilities of peace and security, climate action, the WTO and the WHO, BRICS has the opportunity to fill the vacuum and protect the interests of the Global South. BRICS can simultaneously focus on reforms in West-dominated institutions and enhanced cooperation in the South. The Rio summit will focus on the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI), climate action, global health, reforming global governance, and peace and security. Since the Trump administration holds contrarian views on these issues, the only hope is greater cooperation among countries of the Global South. Fourth, Xi Jinping would not be present at the Rio summit. Premier Li Qiang will be representing China. Xi's absence has led to speculations of a fraying unity, strains in ties between China and Brazil and Prime Minister Lula Da Silva's invitation to PM Modi for a state dinner. It is not easy to find the real reason, but Brazil views it as a diplomatic slight. Silva's advisor Celso Amorim once stated that 'BRICS without China is not BRICS'. This would be the first time that China's president will not be present at the summit. This is surprising because Brazil has good ties with China, and PM Silva recently visited Beijing. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, will also not participate in person because of the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant issued against him. Finally, New Delhi must strengthen its associations with BRICS. In a world where Trump's whimsical policies send shockwaves, India needs closer ties with alternative regional powers. India lends immense credibility to the organisation and seeks to gain a lot in the future. New Delhi's strong ties with Washington should not come in the way of its associations with BRICS. PM Modi and his team will have an opportunity to sensitise the members on issues like digital inclusion, sustainable development, climate action, poverty elimination, and terrorism. In a favourable development, New Delhi has aligned its stance with other members on Israel's attack on Iran. It is likely to receive support from others on the issue of terrorism in reciprocation. The writer teaches at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Views are personal
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Iran's president orders country to suspend cooperation with U.N. nuclear watchdog IAEA
Iran's president on Wednesday (July 2, 2025) ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency after American and Israeli airstrikes hit its most important nuclear facilities, likely further limiting inspectors' ability to track Tehran's programme that had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels. The order by President Masoud Pezeshkian included no timetables or details about what that suspension would entail. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signalled in a CBS News interview that Tehran still would be willing to continue negotiations with the United States. 'I don't think negotiations will restart as quickly as that,' Mr. Araghchi said, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's comments that talks could start as early as this week. However, he added, 'The doors of diplomacy will never slam shut.' Pressure tactic Iran has limited IAEA inspections in the past as a pressure tactic in negotiating with the West — though as of right now Tehran has denied that there's any immediate plans to resume talks with the United States that had been upended by the 12-day Iran-Israel war. Iranian state television announced Mr. Pezeshkian's order, which followed a law passed by Iran's parliament to suspend that cooperation. The bill already received the approval of Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, on Thursday (June 26, 2025), and likely the support of the country's Supreme National Security Council, which Mr. Pezeshkian chairs. 'The government is mandated to immediately suspend all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency under the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its related Safeguards Agreement,' state television quoted the bill as saying. 'This suspension will remain in effect until certain conditions are met, including the guaranteed security of nuclear facilities and scientists,' it added. It wasn't immediately clear what that would mean for the Vienna-based IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. The agency long has monitored Iran's nuclear programme and said that it was waiting for an official communication from Iran on what the suspension meant. A diplomat with knowledge of IAEA operations, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the situation in Iran, said that IAEA inspectors were still there after the announcement and hadn't been told by the government to leave. Israel condemns the move Iran's decision drew an immediate condemnation from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. 'Iran has just issued a scandalous announcement about suspending its cooperation with the IAEA,' he said in an X post. 'This is a complete renunciation of all its international nuclear obligations and commitments.' Mr. Saar urged European nations that were part of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal to implement its so-called snapback clause. That would reimpose all U.N. sanctions on it originally lifted by Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, if one of its Western parties declares the Islamic Republic is out of compliance with it. Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, and the IAEA doesn't have access to its weapons-related facilities. Iran's decision stops short of experts' worst fears Iran's move so far stops short of what experts feared the most. They had been concerned that Tehran, in response to the war, could decide to fully end its cooperation with the IAEA, abandon the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and rush toward a bomb. That treaty has countries agree not to build or obtain nuclear weapons and allows the IAEA to conduct inspections to verify that countries correctly declared their programmes. Iran's 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67% — enough to fuel a nuclear power plant, but far below the threshold of 90% needed for weapons-grade uranium. It also drastically reduced Iran's stockpile of uranium, limited its use of centrifuges and relied on the IAEA to oversee Tehran's compliance through additional oversight. The IAEA served as the main assessor of Iran's commitment to the deal. But Mr. Trump, in his first term in 2018, unilaterally withdrew Washington from the accord, insisting it wasn't tough enough and didn't address Iran's missile programme or its support for militant groups in the wider Middle East. That set in motion years of tensions, including attacks at sea and on land. Iran had been enriching up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. It also has enough of a stockpile to build multiple nuclear bombs, should it choose to do so. Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, but the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and others say Tehran had an organised weapons programme up until 2003. Suspension comes after Israel, U.S. airstrikes Israeli airstrikes, which began June 13, decimated the upper ranks of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and targeted its arsenal of ballistic missiles. The strikes also hit Iran's nuclear sites, which Israel claimed put Tehran within reach of a nuclear weapon. Iran has said the Israeli attacks killed 935 'Iranian citizens,' including 38 children and 102 women. However, Iran has a long history of offering lower death counts around unrest over political considerations. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has put the death toll at 1,190 people killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members. The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said. Meanwhile, it appears that Iranian officials are now assessing the damage done by the American strikes conducted on the three nuclear sites on June 22, including those at Fordo, a site built under a mountain about 100 km southwest of Tehran. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analysed by The Associated Press show Iranian officials at Fordo on Monday (June 30, 2025) likely examining the damage caused by American bunker busters. Trucks could be seen in the images, as well as at least one crane and an excavator at tunnels on the site. That corresponded to images shot Sunday (June 29, 2025) by Maxar Technologies similarly showing the ongoing work.
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Business Standard
3 hours ago
- Business Standard
Iran's President orders halt to cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog IAEA
Iran's president on Wednesday ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency after American and Israeli airstrikes hit its most-important nuclear facilities, likely further limiting inspectors' ability to track Tehran's programme that had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels. The order by President Masoud Pezeshkian included no timetables or details about what that suspension would entail. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signalled in a CBS News interview that Tehran still would be willing to continue negotiations with the United States. I don't think negotiations will restart as quickly as that, Araghchi said, referring to Trump's comments that talks could start as early as this week. However, he added: The doors of diplomacy will never slam shut. Pressure tactic Iran has limited IAEA inspections in the past as a pressure tactic in negotiating with the West though as of right now Tehran has denied that there's any immediate plans to resume talks with the United States that had been upended by the 12-day Iran-Israel war. Iranian state television announced Pezeshkian's order, which followed a law passed by Iran's parliament to suspend that cooperation. The bill already received the approval of Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, on Thursday, and likely the support of the country's Supreme National Security Council, which Pezeshkian chairs. The government is mandated to immediately suspend all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency under the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its related Safeguards Agreement, state television quoted the bill as saying. "This suspension will remain in effect until certain conditions are met, including the guaranteed security of nuclear facilities and scientists. It wasn't immediately clear what that would mean for the Vienna-based IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. The agency long has monitored Iran's nuclear programme and said that it was waiting for an official communication from Iran on what the suspension meant. A diplomat with knowledge of IAEA operations, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the situation in Iran, said that IAEA inspectors were still there after the announcement and hadn't been told by the government to leave. Israel condemns the move Iran's decision drew an immediate condemnation from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. Iran has just issued a scandalous announcement about suspending its cooperation with the IAEA, he said in an X post. This is a complete renunciation of all its international nuclear obligations and commitments. Saar urged European nations that were part of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal to implement its so-called snapback clause. That would reimpose all UN sanctions on it originally lifted by Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, if one of its Western parties declares the Islamic Republic is out of compliance with it. Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, and the IAEA doesn't have access to its weapons-related facilities. Iran's decision stops short of experts' worst fears Iran's move so far stops short of what experts feared the most. They had been concerned that Tehran, in response to the war, could decide to fully end its cooperation with the IAEA, abandon the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and rush toward a bomb. That treaty has countries agree not to build or obtain nuclear weapons and allows the IAEA to conduct inspections to verify that countries correctly declared their programmes. Iran's 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67 per cent enough to fuel a nuclear power plant, but far below the threshold of 90 per cent needed for weapons-grade uranium. It also drastically reduced Iran's stockpile of uranium, limited its use of centrifuges and relied on the IAEA to oversee Tehran's compliance through additional oversight. The IAEA served as the main assessor of Iran's commitment to the deal. But US President Donald Trump, in his first term in 2018, unilaterally withdrew Washington from the accord, insisting it wasn't tough enough and didn't address Iran's missile programme or its support for militant groups in the wider Middle East. That set in motion years of tensions, including attacks at sea and on land. Iran had been enriching up to 60 per cent, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. It also has enough of a stockpile to build multiple nuclear bombs, should it choose to do so. Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, but the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and others say Tehran had an organized weapons programme up until 2003. Suspension comes after Israel, US airstrikes Israeli airstrikes, which began June 13, decimated the upper ranks of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and targeted its arsenal of ballistic missiles. The strikes also hit Iran's nuclear sites, which Israel claimed put Tehran within reach of a nuclear weapon. Iran has said the Israeli attacks killed 935 Iranian citizens, including 38 children and 102 women. However, Iran has a long history of offering lower death counts around unrest over political considerations. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has put the death toll at 1,190 people killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members. The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said. Meanwhile, it appears that Iranian officials now are assessing the damage done by the American strikes conducted on the three nuclear sites on June 22, including those at Fordo, a site built under a mountain about 100 kilometres southwest of Tehran. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analysed by The Associated Press show Iranian officials at Fordo on Monday likely examining the damage caused by American bunker busters. Trucks could be seen in the images, as well as at least one crane and an excavator at tunnels on the site. That corresponded to images shot Sunday by Maxar Technologies similarly showing the ongoing work. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
