President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed at a White House meeting on Wednesday that the US would work to reduce Iran’s oil exports to China, Axios reported, citing two US officials briefed on the issue.

“We agreed that we will go full force with maximum pressure against Iran, for example, regarding Iranian oil sales to China,” Axios reported on Saturday, quoting a senior US official.

Asked about the report, China’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that “normal cooperation between countries conducted within the framework of international law is reasonable and legitimate, and should be respected and protected.”

China accounts for more than 80% of Iran’s oil exports. Any reduction in that trade would mean lower oil revenue for Iran.

US and Iranian diplomats held talks on Iran’s nuclear programme through Omani mediators last week in an effort to revive diplomacy, after the US president positioned a naval flotilla in the region as the American military prepares for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran.

• Ukraine wants 2027 membership date as part of peace deal.
• Kallas says a lot of work still needed.
• Latvian president plays down peace deal prospects.

MUNICH: European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Sunday she felt that EU governments were not ready to give Ukraine a date for membership despite a demand to do so from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Zelenskiy repeated on Saturday that he needed a date as part of security guarantees for a final peace package with Russia.

“My feeling is that the member states are not ready to give a concrete date,” Kallas told a panel at the Munich Security Conference. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Ukraine pushing for 2027 membership

Ukrainian EU membership in 2027 was pencilled into a 20-point peace plan discussed between the United States, Ukraine and the European Union, diplomats have said, as a measure to ensure Ukraine’s economic prosperity after the war ends.

But many EU governments believe that date, or any other fixed date, is completely unrealistic because EU accession is a merit-based process, moving forward only when there is progress in adjusting a country’s laws to EU standards.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics echoed the Kallas comments but held out little hope of an imminent peace deal.

“Yes, we understand that we need Ukraine in the European Union and, yes, when talking with many heads of state I get the feeling there is no readiness to accept a date,” he said.

Rinkevics said that the EU had always been creative when there was a real need and could probably find a formula that suited the bloc, but it would also need to assuage Western Balkan states and Moldova, which have long been vying for membership.

“Like it or not it is very much tied to the peace deal. Will there be a peace deal or not? I don’t see that Russia is going to move, and if Russia is not moving, then we are not going to have a deal,” he said.

Ukraine applied to join the EU days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, seeking to anchor itself politically and economically to the West.

It has been pushing to make progress on its bid, despite the challenges of the war and opposition from EU member Hungary, which is blocking the start of detailed membership talks.

• Second round of nuclear talks due on Tuesday: Iran minister.
• Majid Takht-Ravanchi says initial talks went in a positive direction.
• Rules out Tehran’s acceptance of zero uranium enrichment.

Iran is ready to consider compromises to reach a nuclear deal with the United States if Washington is willing to discuss lifting sanctions, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC in an interview published on Sunday.

Iran has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions, but has repeatedly ruled out linking the issue to other questions, including missiles.

Takht-Ravanchi confirmed that a second round of nuclear talks would take place on Tuesday in Geneva, after Tehran and Washington resumed discussions in Oman earlier this month.

“[Initial talks went] more or less in a positive direction, but it is too early to judge,” Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC.

A US delegation, including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, will meet with the Iranians on Tuesday morning, a source had told Reuters on Friday, with Omani representatives mediating the US-Iran contacts.

Iran’s atomic chief said on Monday the country could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for all financial sanctions being lifted. Takht-Ravanchi used this example in the BBC interview to highlight Iran’s flexibility.

The senior diplomat reiterated Tehran’s stance that it would not accept zero uranium enrichment, which had been a key impediment to reaching a deal last year, with the US viewing enrichment inside Iran as a pathway to nuclear weapons.

Iran denies seeking such nuclear weapons.

During his first term in office, Trump pulled the US out of a 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the signature foreign policy achievement of former Democratic President Barack Obama.

The deal eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear programme to prevent it from being able to make an atomic bomb.