Iran said that it will hold meetings with China and Russia on Tuesday amid threats of reimposed United Nations sanctions.
“We are in constant consultation with these two countries to prevent activation of the snapback or to mitigate its consequences,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei stated during a press briefing, as reported by Iran International. “We have aligned positions and good relations.”
“There is no legal, moral, or political basis for reinstating sanctions that were lifted under the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action],” Baghaei added. “We have been engaged in consultations with Russia and China on this issue for the past year.”
Baghaei added that Iran has “no plans for talks with the United States,” although diplomacy continues to be a “tool and opportunity to safeguard Iran’s national interests, and that Tehran would not hesitate to use it when necessary.”
The planned meeting with Russia and China follows Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting with senior advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Larijani. According to The Moscow Times, the meeting pertained to Iran’s nuclear program.
Larijani “conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear program,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the report, adding that Putin discussed Russia’s “well-known positions on how to stabilize the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear program.”
Iran is also set to hold discussions with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom this week.
The developments come as Iran has vowed to “never stop” nuclear enrichment.
