Nuclear Weapons

The IAEA is ready to start immediate consultations for establishing such a safety zone to "prevent a nuclear accident arising from physical damage caused by military means", the UN watchdog said in a report issued on Tuesday on Ukraine's nuclear safety, security and safeguards situation.

Iran received a response from the US administration on Wednesday to EU foreign affairs envoy Josep Borrell's compromise proposal for the text of the agreement, reports dpa news agency. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Thursday that Tehran would now carefully examine the US response and then immediately announce its decision to the EU.

Russia is using the nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine to frighten people and to blackmail the Ukrainian leadership and the whole world, Zelensky said in a video address broadcast on Saturday evening. Russia, a nuclear power in terms of weaponry, is "building nuclear power plants in several countries", dpa news agency reported. Kiev and Moscow have been accusing each other for days of being responsible for the shelling of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

During the past few days, four rounds of "intensive negotiations" on the outstanding issues have been held with the other sides to make sure they take into account Tehran's considerations and concerns, the Iranian diplomat told IRNA on Monday on condition of anonymity.

The Iranian negotiating team, headed by Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, held a meeting with the Russian delegation led by Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organisations in Vienna and chief negotiator to the Vienna talks, Xinhua news agency reported, citing IRNA.

"They have not even proposed to resume these talks," Lavrov said on Wednesday during a visit to Myanmar, according to Russian state news agency TASS. At issue is a replacement for the New START disarmament treaty, the only remaining major arms control agreement between the US and Russia. The treaty limits the nuclear arsenals of both countries to 800 delivery systems and 1,550 operational warheads each, dpa news agency reported.

Putin made the remarks on Monday in his greeting to the 10th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. "We believe that there can be no winners in a nuclear war, and it must never be fought; we advocate equal and inseparable security for all members of the international community," TASS News Agency quoted the President as saying.

Speaking on Monday at the start of the Tenth Review Conference for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Blinken said that Russia had "engaged in reckless, dangerous nuclear sabre rattling", news agency dpa reported. Blinken added that "there is no place in our world for nuclear deterrence based on force and intimidation or blackmail. We have to stand together in rejecting this".

The UN describes the NPT as a landmark international treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, news agency dpa reported. It is subject to review every five years, and the 10th review was to have taken place in 2020 but was postponed on account of the coronavirus pandemic. It takes place now amid stalling negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal and Russia's war in Ukraine.

However, he added that the situation has since deteriorated to the point where there is a real and serious threat. Moscow tried to persuade former US President Donald Trump to recommit to the 1987 statement by the US and Soviet leaders that there can be no winners in a nuclear war, and that such a war should never be fought, Lavrov explained in the interview, RT reported.