Iran’s FM presses efforts to save N-deal

BEIJING: Iran’s foreign minister has travelled to China on his Asian tour aimed at keeping world markets open to Tehran amid an intense sanctions campaign from the US as tensions simmer across the Persian Gulf.Concerns about a possible conflict have flared since the White House ordered warships and bombers to the region to counter an alleged, unexplained threat from Iran that has seen America order non-essential diplomatic staff out of Iraq.On Friday, Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in Beijing to speak to his Chinese counterpart. Beijing was one of the signatories on Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which saw it limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crushing economic sanctions. “So far, the international community has mainly made statements instead of saving the deal,” Zarif said, according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency. “The practical step is quite clear: economic relations with Iran should be normalised. This is what the deal clearly addresses.”He had earlier visited Japan, a major importer of crude oil from the Persian Gulf.Tehran recently said it would resume enriching uranium at higher levels if a new nuclear deal is not reached with Europe by July 7. That would potentially bring it closer to being able to develop a nuclear weapon, something Iran insists it has never sought.The USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group have yet to reach the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil traded at sea passes.A Revolutionary Guard deputy warned that any armed conflict would affect the global energy market. Iran has long threatened to be able to shut off the strait. “If a war happens, the world will suffer from problems in energy supply,” General Saleh Jokar said, according to a report by the semi-official Fars news agency.He also said Iran’s short-range missiles “can easily reach present warships in the Persian Gulf”, while noting that the 1,240-mile range of the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missiles can reach across the wider Persian Gulf.

from The News International - Top Story http://bit.ly/2EfUoMV