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WORLD NEWS Monday 10 June 2019

Iran gears up for high-stakes diplomacy amid tension with US

By JON GAMBRELL announced that he is pur- tect a vessel already within
Associated Press suing an economic war,” range of airstrikes on Iran
ABU DHABI, United Arab Zarif said. An “economic and not to provoke a re-
Emirates (AP) — As its nu- war targets ordinary peo- sponse from Iran’s paramili-
clear deal with world pow- ple and is in fact terrorism. tary Revolutionary Guard,
ers unravels amid height- This policy must stop.” which routinely harasses
ened tensions with the U.S., Meanwhile, Iran on Sun- American naval ships.
Iran will see a week of high- day announced what it Ahead of Abe, German
stakes diplomacy capped described as a new sur- Foreign Minister Heiko Maas
by the first visit of a Japa- face-to-air missile battery it will visit Tehran on Monday.
nese prime minister to Teh- called the Khordad 15. The Germany is one of the sig-
ran since the 1979 Islamic system uses locally made natories to the nuclear deal
Revolution. missiles that resemble the and has sought to keep
Shinzo Abe will arrive on HAWK missiles that the U.S. Iran in the accord.
Wednesday in Iran after once sold to the shah and “We want to avoid any
earlier meeting with Presi- A pilot speaks to a crew member by an F/A-18 fighter jet on the later delivered to the Is- misunderstandings that
dent Donald Trump, whose deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian lamic Republic in the 1980s would lead to automatic
maximalist approach to- Sea on Monday, June 3, 2019. Iran-Contra scandal. reactions that could lead
ward the Islamic Republic Associated Press The revealing of the missiles to violence,” Maas said.
has seen America re-im- draw the U.S. from the for Iran. And I think we’ll comes as the USS Abraham “All those involved bear
pose sanctions once lifted nuclear deal. That accord make a deal.” Lincoln, the aircraft carrier responsibility to absolutely
by the 2015 accord and saw Iran agree to limit its The reaction has been ordered to the region, re- avoid a spiral of escalation
create far-reaching newer enrichment of uranium in mixed in Iran. Its rial cur- mains in the Arabian Sea. It and this is a view I will also
ones. German Foreign Min- exchange for the lifting of rency is currently trading at has yet to transit the Strait express very clearly tomor-
ister Heiko Maas also will vis- economic sanctions 128,000 to $1. It had been of Hormuz to reach the Per- row, on the opposite shores
it Tehran as well this week. Trump, in withdrawing from 32,000 to the dollar at the sian Gulf, likely to both pro- of the Gulf.”q
What Abe will be able to the deal, pointed to the time of the 2015 deal.
accomplish remains un- accord not limiting Iran’s Japan had once pur-
clear, as Iran already has ballistic missile program, chased Iranian oil, but it
warned Europe it will be- nor addressing what Ameri- has now stopped over
gin enrichment of uranium can officials describe as American sanctions. How-
closer to weapons-grade Tehran’s malign influence ever, Mideast oil remains
levels by July 7 if it doesn’t across the wider Mideast. crucial to Japan and re-
come up with new terms Those who struck the deal cent threats from Iran to
to the deal. It also comes at the time described it as close off the Strait of Hor-
as Japan tries to negoti- a building block toward fur- muz, the narrow mouth
ate its own trade deals with ther negotiations with Iran, through which a third of all
Trump, who has been quick whose Islamic government oil traded by sea passes,
to impose tariffs on other has had a tense relation- has raised concerns.
nations. ship with America since the Abe will arrive Wednes-
But Abe, whose nation 1979 takeover of the U.S. day to Tehran and will stay
relies heavily on Mideast Embassy in Tehran and sub- through Friday, Iran’s state-
crude oil to power its econ- sequent hostage crisis. run IRNA news agency re-
omy, already has acknowl- Some members of Trump’s ported on Sunday. Japa-
edged the challenge. administration, particularly nese Foreign Minister Taro
“Between Japan and the National Security Adviser Kono is expected to travel
United States, there should John Bolton, previously sup- to Tehran before Abe’s ar-
be close collaboration so ported the overthrow of rival to meet his Iranian
that this tension surround- Iran’s government. Trump, counterpart, Mohammad
ing Iran should be miti- however, has stressed that Javad Zarif.
gated and alleviated, and he wants to talk with Iran’s Zarif, speaking at a high
it shouldn’t culminate in clerical rulers. school in Tehran on Sun-
armed conflict,” Abe said “I’m not looking to hurt day, welcomed Abe’s visit,
in a May news conference Iran at all. I’m looking to but stressed Trump had en-
with Trump in Tokyo. have Iran say, ‘No nuclear gaged in an “economic
The current crisis, which weapons,’” Trump said at war” against Iran through
has seen the U.S. hurry an the same Tokyo news con- the imposition of sanctions.
aircraft carrier strike group ference. “We have enough “We have said it clearly
and B-52 bombers in the re- problems in this world right that economic war is not
gion, takes root in Trump’s now with nuclear weap- different from a (military)
decision last year to with- ons. No nuclear weapons war at all. Mr. Trump has