Category: 2. World

Senior officials from Iran and Europe’s top three powers met in Geneva on Tuesday to discuss the Westerners’ demand that Iran revive nuclear inspections and diplomacy or face the reimposition of sanctions that were lifted under a 2015 deal.

France, Britain and Germany, known as the E3, have long threatened to trigger the “snapback” of sanctions at the United Nations Security Council by October, when the now largely defunct nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers expires.

They have more recently said they plan to decide by the end of August unless Iran offers concessions that could convince them to hold off for a short time, often referred to as an extension. Talks are tense as Iran is furious at the bombing in Juneof its nuclear facilities by the US and Israel, the E3’s allies.

“We are going to see whether the Iranians are credible about an extension or whether they are messing us around. We want to see whether they have made any progress on the conditions we set to extend,” one E3 official said.

Those conditions are the resumption of UN inspections, including accounting for Iran’s large stock of enriched uranium, and engaging in diplomacy, including with the United States. Iran has repeatedly ruled out direct talks with Washington.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Tuesday after the meeting that Tehran remained committed to diplomacy and a mutually beneficial solution.

“It is time for the E3 and the UN Security Council to make the right choice and give diplomacy the time and space it needs,” he said in a post on X.

Officials in Geneva said they did not expect public statements to be made there during the meeting. The European Union, which serves as coordinator of the 2015 deal, was also due to attend.

Israel and the United States have said they needed to strike Iran’s uranium enrichment sites because it was making such rapid advances towards being able to produce a nuclear weapon.

Tehran denies any intention to develop atomic bombs.

Enrichment drive

Iran has been enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, a short step from the roughly 90% of weapons-grade, and had enough material enriched to that level, if refined further, for six nuclear weapons before the strikes started on June 13.

Actually producing a weapon would take more time, however, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that, while it cannot guarantee Tehran’s nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, it has no credible indication of a coordinated weapons project in the Islamic Republic.

While Iran’s enrichment plants were badly damaged or destroyed in the June war, Tehran has not granted the IAEA access to them since then, arguing that it is not safe for inspectors. The status and whereabouts of Iran’s large stockpile of enriched uranium are also unclear.

“Due to the damage to our nuclear sites, we need to agree on a new plan with the agency — and we’ve conveyed that to IAEA officials,” one Iranian official said.

Western officials have said they suspect Iran has returned to negotiating tactics aimed at buying time and dragging talks out. The E3 will seek to determine in their talks on Tuesday whether that is now the case.

Tehran has warned of a “harsh response” if sanctions are reinstated.

France is braced for another political crisis as the minority government of François Bayrou appears almost certain to be toppled in a confidence vote next month, amid deep political divisions over an unpopular austerity budget and debt-reduction plan.

“I will fight like a dog,” the centrist prime minister told L’Express on Tuesday after his surprise decision to call a vote of confidence from parliamentarians.

Bayrou, 74, a close ally of Emmanuel Macron, is expected to lose the vote as opposition parties on the far right and left said they would relish the opportunity to eject him after less than nine months in office.

Boris Vallaud, the head of the Socialist parliamentary group, told BFM TV: “We need to change politics and for that we need to change prime minister.”

Bayrou’s gamble – which involves Macron convening a special session of parliament on 8 September for a confidence vote that the prime minister has almost no chance of winning – has sparked fears of another political crisis less than a year after the previous government of Michel Barnier was toppled over budget disagreements after only three months.

The Paris stock market tumbled, shares in French banks sank and the country’s borrowing costs rose on Tuesday as investors fretted.

A planned protest movement against Bayrou’s proposed budget cuts, which gathered support on social media over the summer, as well as potential strikes and demonstrations by trade unions are expected to begin on 10 September, regardless of whether Bayrou is forced to quit.

The beleaguered politician attended a meeting of the CFDT trade union on Tuesday where he urged French political parties to think carefully about the vote, noting they had 13 days to “say whether they are on the side of chaos or responsibility”.

Bayrou said: “Is there or is there not a national emergency to rebalance the accounts, to escape excessive debt by choosing to reduce our deficits and produce more? That is the central question.”

In what was seen as a last-minute appeal to the left, he said he was prepared to demand a “specific effort” from high-wealth individuals, after his budget proposals were widely criticised for affecting poor people and pensioners while having less impact on the very wealthy.

If Bayrou is ousted, Macron would be dragged into domestic upheaval at a significant international moment for him, as he positions himself to play a role on Ukraine and the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Under the French political system, the president, who is head of state and has authority on foreign policy and national security, directly appoints a prime minister as head of government to run domestic affairs. Macron could swiftly appoint a new prime minister but they too could risk being ousted over the budget.

A source close to the far-right leader Marine Le Pen told Reuters it was hard to see how any new prime minister could escape being hit by a vote of no confidence.

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Le Pen’s party instead wants Macron to dissolve parliament and call a snap election. Macron said this summer he did not want to do this, but the justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, said on Tuesday that an election could not be ruled out.

Since Macron called an inconclusive snap election last June, the French parliament has been divided between three groups with no absolute majority. A left alliance took the largest number of seats but fell short of an absolute majority; Macron’s centrist grouping took losses but is still present; and the far-right National Rally gained seats but was held back from power by tactical voting from the left and centre. The Green leader, Marine Tondelier, said Macron must now appoint a prime minister from the left.

The interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, who leads the rightwing Les Républicains party that has propped up Bayrou, said it would be irresponsible and “against France’s interests” to vote for the government to fall.

At the heart of the crisis is Bayrou’s unpopular and vague plan for a €44bn (£38bn) budget squeeze and austerity programme to reduce France’s public debt. This includes scrapping two public holidays and freezing welfare spending and tax brackets. Hospital staff are concerned about deep cuts to the public health service.

Polls show voters on all political sides see the budget as unfair and letting the wealthiest off the hook. This summer, Bayrou became the least popular French prime minister since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958, with one poll showing 80% of French people did not trust him.

BEIJING — Two years after formally joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in July 2023, Iran—the organization’s first Middle Eastern member—has found its partnership with the group transformative, both for the nation and for the organization itself.

The process took 13 years to materialize, as in 2010 the SCO introduced a new membership criterion that excluded states under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions. When UNSC sanctions against Iran were lifted in 2020—following the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and UN Security Council Resolution 2231—this breakthrough transformed long-sought membership into a reality for Iran and a strategic boost for the SCO.

For Iran, joining the SCO as a full member has helped mitigate the effects of years of U.S.-led sanctions. Membership has opened doors for cooperation with other members in politics, security, and technology—most notably in renewable energy. As 2025 marks the SCO’s “Year of Sustainable Development,” Iran could leverage China’s global leadership in solar and wind power to advance its own green goals. Beyond economics, the SCO strengthens Iran’s position by countering U.S. pressure and expanding its regional influence.

The SCO, in turn, benefits from Iran’s inclusion. It deepens the organization’s footprint in the Middle East, a region critical to global security and stability. By embracing Iran, the SCO reinforces its core “Shanghai Spirit”: mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations, and the pursuit of common development. This aligns with its mission to foster multilateral economic cooperation and address regional security issues, including counterterrorism.

Yet a persistent question remains: Does Iran’s membership signal the rise of an anti-U.S. or anti-Western bloc? The answer is no. The SCO is not a military alliance—China, Russia, and other members have repeatedly emphasized this—and pursuing an anti-Western coalition runs counter to the organization’s interests. Instead, Iran’s inclusion strengthens the SCO’s identity as a platform for sovereign, equal cooperation—a counterweight to hegemony, achieved not through confrontation, but through partnership.

Challenges remain: more members bring greater complexity in coordination and decision-making. Yet the SCO’s more than twenty years of experience show that expansion is inevitable. As a platform for upholding international fairness, the SCO is gaining broader global recognition.

Two years on, Iran’s SCO journey is less about picking sides and more about building partnerships. For both, the future lies in turning shared interests into tangible progress—proof that multilateralism, when rooted in respect, can overcome even the deepest geopolitical divides.

Shen Shiwei is a founder of the China Briefing newsletter and a non-resident fellow at Zhejiang Normal University. The article reflects the author’s opinions and not necessarily the views of the Tehran Times. 
 

Indian exporters are bracing for a sharp decline in orders from the United States after trade talks collapsed and Washington confirmed that steep new tariffs on the South Asian nation’s goods would take effect from Wednesday, escalating tension between the strategic partners.

An additional 25 per cent duty announced by President Donald Trump, confirmed in a notice by the Homeland Security Department, takes total tariffs to as much as 50pc, among Washington’s highest, in retaliation for New Delhi’s increased buying of Russian oil.

“The government has no hope for any immediate relief or delay in US tariffs,” said a commerce ministry official, who sought anonymity for lack of authorisation to speak to the media.

Exporters hit by tariffs would receive financial assistance and be encouraged to diversify to alternative markets such as China, Latin America and the Middle East, the official added.

However, the commerce ministry did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the latest notice.

The new duties will apply from 12:01am EDT on Wednesday (9:31am IST), it showed. Exceptions are shipments in transit, humanitarian aid and items under reciprocal trade programmes.

The Indian rupee fell to a three-week closing low of 87.68 against the dollar, despite recovering some ground after suspected central bank intervention to support it.

The benchmark equity indexes closed down 1pc each, for their worst sessions in three months.

Wednesday’s tariff move follows five rounds of failed talks, during which Indian officials had signalled optimism that tariffs could be capped at 15pc.

Officials on both sides blamed political misjudgment and missed signals for the breakdown in talks between the world’s biggest and fifth-largest economies, whose two-way trade is worth more than $190 billion.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have accused India of indirectly funding Russia’s war against Ukraine by boosting Russian oil purchases.

This month, Bessent said India was profiteering from its sharply increased imports, making up 42pc of total oil purchases, versus less than 1pc before the war, in a shift Washington has called unacceptable.

India has issued no directive yet on oil purchases from Russia. Companies will continue to buy oil on the basis of economics, three refining sources said.

Exporters seek aid

Exporter groups estimate hikes could affect nearly 55pc of India’s merchandise exports worth $87bn to the US, while benefiting competitors such as Bangladesh, China and Vietnam.

“The US customers have already stopped new orders,” said Pankaj Chadha, president of the Engineering Exports Promotion Council. “With these additional tariffs, the exports could come down by 20-30pc from September onward.”

The government has promised financial aid such as greater subsidies on bank loans and support for diversification in the event of financial losses, Chadha added.

“However, exporters see limited scope for diversifying to other markets or selling in the domestic market.”

The commerce ministry official said the government had identified nearly 50 countries to which India could boost exports, particularly items such as textiles, food processed items, leather goods and marine products.

India’s diamond industry exports have already hit a two-decade low on weak Chinese demand, and the higher tariffs now threaten to cut it off from its largest market, taking nearly a third of $28.5bn annual shipments of gems and jewellery.

Broader economic impact

Private sector analysts warn that a sustained 50pc tariff could weigh on India’s economy and corporate profits, prompting the steepest earnings downgrades in Asia, even if proposed domestic tax cuts partly cushion the blow.

Last week, Capital Economics said full US tariffs would chip 0.8 percentage points from India’s economic growth both this year and the next.

Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar also said trade talks continued and Washington’s concern over Russian oil purchases was not equally applied to other major buyers such as China and the European Union.

The US could be a major energy supplier to India, an official of its New Delhi embassy said on Tuesday.

The US is committed to collaborating with India on exports of high-quality products and services to help achieve energy security and economic growth, the official added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed not to compromise the interests of Indian farmers, even if it entails a heavy price. Modi is also moving to burnish ties with China, planning his first visit there in seven years at the end of the month.

Iran has vowed to take “reciprocal action” after Australia expelled its ambassador over accusations that Tehran was behind antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.

Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio) had “credible intelligence” to believe that the Iranian government was behind the attacks against the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne and Lewis’s Continental Kitchen in Bondi in Sydney last year.

He also announced that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps would now be listed as a terrorist group.

But Iran hit back on Tuesday and pledged to take “reciprocal action”. It also said that Albanese was weak and was only taking the action to compensate for a tougher recent line on Israel.

“The accusation that has been made is absolutely rejected,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press conference, adding that “any inappropriate and unjustified action on a diplomatic level will have a reciprocal reaction”.

Australia declared Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi “persona non grata” and ordered him and three other officials to leave the country within seven days.

It also withdrew its own ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, which opened in 1968.

On Tuesday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said in a post on X that Albanese was a “weak politician” and said the accusation against Iran “makes zero sense”.

“Iran is paying the price for the Australian people’s support for Palestine. Canberra should know better than to attempt to appease a regime led by war criminals,” Iran’s top diplomat said, referring to Israeli politicians.

Baqaei said the measures appeared to be “influenced by internal developments” in Australia, including recent protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

“It seems that this action is taken in order to compensate for the limited criticism the Australian side has directed at the Zionist regime (Israel),” he added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

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