Azerbaijan is one of the countries that widely celebrates International Women’s Day. March 8 is an official holiday in the country.
Day: March 7, 2024
Cyprus’s foreign minister in Yerevan
“Coercion and use of force cannot replace dialogue and peaceful dispute resolution,” stated Cyprus’s foreign minister Constantinos Kombos in Yerevan. He was in Armenia for a two-day official visit.
He reaffirmed Nicosia’s stance on the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries in line with international law and the UN Charter. He emphasized, “We must stand against aggression and support Armenia, both politically and materially.”
Notably, earlier this week, the Greek defense minister was in Yerevan, highlighting the successful partnership between Armenia, Greece, and Cyprus.
Following the visit, a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the ministries of foreign affairs of Armenia and Cyprus was signed.
- Armenia and Greece are discussing a quadrilateral format for military cooperation
- No guarantees that Baku won’t proceed with another escalation”: Opinion
- “Armenia needs to sign a trilateral agreement with France and India.” Opinion
Diplomatic missions to open
“We have decided to open a diplomatic mission in Cyprus in the near future. We will make every effort to achieve this within this year,” stated Armenian foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
In 2024, Cyprus will open a diplomatic mission in Yerevan, announced Cyprus’s foreign minister Konstantinos Kombos.
“Cyprus has been and will continue to be a faithful friend and strong supporter of Armenia.”
As the Armenian Foreign Minister mentioned, Cyprus provides significant support to Armenia “at the level of Armenia-EU relations.”
His Cypriot counterpart added that this includes lobbying for an increase in the number of European Union observers patrolling the Armenian-Azerbaijani border:
“Cyprus will systematically and tirelessly work towards strengthening the institutional dialogue between the EU and Armenia. We will strongly support Armenia’s approach to the EU with economic and political means while promoting a reform agenda. Cyprus has been and will remain a faithful friend, reliable partner, and strong supporter for Armenia.”
Categories
NPR News: 03-07-2024 4PM EST
VIENNA — The United States on Thursday threatened future action against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency if Tehran keeps “stonewalling” the U.N. nuclear watchdog by denying it the cooperation and answers it seeks on issues that include long-unexplained uranium traces.
At a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors, Washington again told Iran to cooperate with IAEA inspectors who for years have been seeking explanations from Tehran on the origin of uranium particles at undeclared sites.
The United States has stopped short, for now, of seeking a resolution against Iran. Diplomats have cited the U.S. presidential election in November as a reason Washington has been reluctant to do that. Tehran bristles at such resolutions and often responds by stepping up its activities.
“We believe we have come to the point that we and the broader international community must consider anew how to respond to Iran’s continued stonewalling,” the United States said in a statement to the board meeting. “We cannot allow Iran’s current pattern of behavior to continue.”
It is now more than a year since the last board resolution against Iran, which ordered it to cooperate urgently with the investigation into the particles. Tehran dismissed the resolution as “political” and “anti-Iranian” even though only China and Russia opposed it.
The United States and its three top European allies, Britain, France and Germany, again opted against seeking a resolution against Iran at this week’s meeting. But the United States said that if Iran did not provide the necessary cooperation soon, it would act.
“It is our strongly held view that Iran’s continuing lack of credible cooperation provides grounds for pursuing further Board of Governors action, including the possibility of additional resolutions and consideration of whether Iran is once again in noncompliance with its safeguards obligations,” it said.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 deal under which major powers lifted sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities. After sanctions were reimposed, Iran expanded those activities far beyond the deal’s limits.
It is now enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons grade and far above the deal’s cap of 3.67%. Western powers say there is no credible civil explanation for enriching to that level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without producing a nuclear bomb.
Iran says that its aims are entirely peaceful and that it has the right to enrich to high levels for civil purposes.
The United States said Iran should provide the IAEA with cooperation including access “for the purposes of collecting environmental samples … and it must begin to do so now.”
If it did not, it would ask IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to provide a “comprehensive report” on Iran’s nuclear activities more wide-ranging than his regular quarterly ones, it said.
“Then, based on the content of that report, we will take appropriate action in support of the IAEA and the global nuclear nonproliferation regime,” it said.
VIENNA — The United States on Thursday threatened future action against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency if Tehran keeps “stonewalling” the U.N. nuclear watchdog by denying it the cooperation and answers it seeks on issues that include long-unexplained uranium traces.
At a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors, Washington again told Iran to cooperate with IAEA inspectors who for years have been seeking explanations from Tehran on the origin of uranium particles at undeclared sites.
The United States has stopped short, for now, of seeking a resolution against Iran. Diplomats have cited the U.S. presidential election in November as a reason Washington has been reluctant to do that. Tehran bristles at such resolutions and often responds by stepping up its activities.
“We believe we have come to the point that we and the broader international community must consider anew how to respond to Iran’s continued stonewalling,” the United States said in a statement to the board meeting. “We cannot allow Iran’s current pattern of behavior to continue.”
It is now more than a year since the last board resolution against Iran, which ordered it to cooperate urgently with the investigation into the particles. Tehran dismissed the resolution as “political” and “anti-Iranian” even though only China and Russia opposed it.
The United States and its three top European allies, Britain, France and Germany, again opted against seeking a resolution against Iran at this week’s meeting. But the United States said that if Iran did not provide the necessary cooperation soon, it would act.
“It is our strongly held view that Iran’s continuing lack of credible cooperation provides grounds for pursuing further Board of Governors action, including the possibility of additional resolutions and consideration of whether Iran is once again in noncompliance with its safeguards obligations,” it said.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 deal under which major powers lifted sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities. After sanctions were reimposed, Iran expanded those activities far beyond the deal’s limits.
It is now enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons grade and far above the deal’s cap of 3.67%. Western powers say there is no credible civil explanation for enriching to that level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without producing a nuclear bomb.
Iran says that its aims are entirely peaceful and that it has the right to enrich to high levels for civil purposes.
The United States said Iran should provide the IAEA with cooperation including access “for the purposes of collecting environmental samples … and it must begin to do so now.”
If it did not, it would ask IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to provide a “comprehensive report” on Iran’s nuclear activities more wide-ranging than his regular quarterly ones, it said.
“Then, based on the content of that report, we will take appropriate action in support of the IAEA and the global nuclear nonproliferation regime,” it said.