TEHRAN: Iran’s top diplomat said Sunday that cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog was no longer relevant following the re-imposition of international sanctions on the country.

“The Cairo agreement is no longer relevant for our cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi while referring to a September deal with the UN agency.

The deal had set up a framework to resume cooperation and allow the watchdog to inspect Iranian sites, after Tehran suspended cooperation following Israeli and US strikes on its key nuclear sites in June.

But the agreement lost its significance to Iran as Britain, France, and Germany — signatories to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal — triggered the return of the UN sanctions over Tehran’s non-compliance.

Tehran had threatened to halt cooperation with the agency if they sought to reimpose the sanctions.

“The three European countries thought they had a leverage in their hands, threatening to implement a snapback,” Araghchi said during a meeting with foreign diplomats in Tehran.

“Now they have used this lever and seen the results […] the three European countries have definitely diminished their role and almost eliminated the justification for negotiations with them.”

He added that the European trio “will have a much smaller role than in the past” in any upcoming diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear dossier.

Iran accused the IAEA of failing to condemn attacks conducted by its arch-enemies on its nuclear installations, despite it being a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Western countries, spearheaded by the US and joined by Israel, accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons and define uranium enrichment as a red line.

Iran categorically rejects the accusations, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes and that it has a right to enrichment under the NPT.

Some Iranian MPs have floated the idea of leaving the NPT, while President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran will remain committed to its obligations under the treaty.

Araghchi said Tehran’s “decision regarding cooperation with the agency will be announced”, without elaborating, while adding there was still room for diplomacy.

Iran had engaged in talks with the US starting in April to reach a new deal over its nuclear program.

However, the June attacks on Iranian nuclear, military and residential sites by Israel brought the talks to a halt.

Tehran accused the US of undermining diplomacy and urged guarantees and recognition of its rights before any possible resumption of negotiations.

Japan’s ruling party picked hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi as its head on Saturday, putting her on course to become the country’s first female prime minister in a move set to jolt investors and neighbours.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan for almost all of the postwar era, elected Takaichi, 64, to regain trust from a public angered by rising prices and drawn to opposition groups promising stimulus and clampdowns on migrants.

A vote in parliament to choose a replacement for outgoing Shigeru Ishiba is expected on October 15. Takaichi is favoured as the ruling coalition has the largest number of seats.

Inherits party in crisis

Takaichi, the only woman among the five LDP candidates, beat a challenge from the more moderate Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, who was bidding to become the youngest modern leader.

A former economic security and internal affairs minister with an expansionary fiscal agenda for the world’s fourth-largest economy, Takaichi takes over a party in crisis.

Various other parties, including the expansionist Democratic Party for the People and the anti-immigration Sanseito, have been steadily luring voters, especially younger ones, away from the LDP.

The LDP and its coalition partner lost their majorities in both houses under Ishiba over the past year, triggering his resignation.

“Recently, I have heard harsh voices from across the country saying we don’t know what the LDP stands for anymore,” Takaichi said in a speech before the second-round vote.

“That sense of urgency drove me. I wanted to turn people’s anxieties about their daily lives and the future into hope.”

Takaichi says her hero is Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister, who offers a starker vision for change than Koizumi and is potentially more disruptive.

An advocate of late premier Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” strategy to boost the economy with aggressive spending and easy monetary policy, she has previously criticised the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) interest rate increases.

Such a spending shift could confuse investors about one of the world’s biggest debt loads.

Naoya Hasegawa, chief bond strategist at Okasan Securities in Tokyo, said Takaichi’s election had weakened the chances of the BOJ raising rates this month, which markets had priced at around a 60 per cent chance before the vote.

Discussed redoing Trump trade deal

Takaichi has also raised the possibility of redoing an investment deal with US President Donald Trump that lowered his punishing tariffs in return for Japanese taxpayer-backed investment.

The US ambassador to Japan, George Glass, congratulated Takaichi, posting on X that he looked forward to strengthening the Japan-US partnership “on every front”.

But her nationalistic positions — such as her regular visits to the Yasukuni shrine to Japan’s war dead, viewed by some Asian countries as a symbol of its past militarism — may rile neighbours like South Korea and China.

South Korea will seek to “cooperate to maintain the positive momentum in South Korea-Japan relations”, President Lee Jae Myung’s office said in a statement.

Takaichi also favours revising Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution and suggested this year that Japan could form a “quasi-security alliance” with Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te welcomed her election, saying she was a “steadfast friend of Taiwan”.

“It is hoped that under the leadership of the new [LDP] President Takaichi, Taiwan and Japan can deepen their partnership in areas such as economic trade, security, and technological cooperation,” he said in a statement.

If elected prime minister, Takaichi said she would travel overseas more regularly than her predecessor to spread the word that “Japan is Back!”.

“I have thrown away my own work-life balance, and I will work, work, work,” Takaichi said in her victory speech.

Warnings for foreigners

Some of her supporters viewed her selection as a watershed in Japan’s male-dominated politics, though opinion polls suggest her socially conservative positions are favoured more by men than women.

“The fact that a woman was chosen might be seen positively. I think it shows that Japan is truly starting to change and that message is getting across,” 30-year-old company worker Misato Kikuchi said outside Tokyo’s Shimbashi station.

Takaichi must also seek to blunt the rise of Sanseito, which broke into the political mainstream in a July election, appealing to conservative voters disillusioned with the LDP.

Echoing Sanseito’s warnings about foreigners, she kicked off her first official campaign speech with an anecdote about tourists reportedly kicking sacred deer in her hometown of Nara.

Takaichi, whose mother was a police officer, promised to clamp down on rule-breaking visitors and immigrants, who have come to Japan in record numbers in recent years.

“We hope she will … steer Japanese politics in an ‘anti-globalism’ direction to protect national interests and help the people regain prosperity and hope,” Sanseito said in a statement.

In yet another demonstration of solidarity with the flood affected people of Pakistan, China has dispatched an additional consignment of humanitarian relief goods for flood-affected families.

A special relief aircraft weighing 90 tons arrived at Islamabad International Airport today. It carried 700 tents, 16,000 blankets, 1,000 life jackets, and 4,000 sleeping bags.

Earlier, China sent two relief flights carrying 300 tents and 9,000 blankets, underscoring its continued support for Pakistan in times of crisis.

As per the directives of the Prime Minister, NDMA in coordination with relevant government institutions, is ensuring swift distribution of all relief assistance to the affected people.

The Government of Pakistan appreciates China’s timely humanitarian assistance, which reaffirms the strong bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.