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Putin Receives Message from Macron before Meeting with Trump, Erdogan

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
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Putin Receives Message from Macron before Meeting with Trump, Erdogan

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

Russian President Vladimir Putin received a message from his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, mainly focusing on the Syrian crisis.

The French government’s special envoy for relations with Russia, Jean-Pierre Chevenement, conveyed Macron’s message on Syria during a meeting on Wednesday with the chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Foreign Affairs Committee.

In remarks to RIA Novosti, Chevenement said the message was about Syria in particular, as “France seeks to play a more influential role in the Syrian settlement.” 

Macron has adopted certain stances in preparation for cooperation with Russia on the Syrian issue, saying in previous comments that the departure of Bashar al-Assad was no longer a condition for France, as the focus must be on countering terrorism.

Meanwhile, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that Moscow was ready to hold a substantive meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam on Nov. 11-12.

He noted that the two leaders would take part in the summit, and “it is logical that they can meet and discuss certain issues”, adding: “We are ready to hold a separate substantive bilateral meeting.”

Putin will also discuss the Syrian settlement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi on November 13, Ushakov said. 

“The next international event (after the Trump meeting in Vietnam) will be on November 13, when Russian and Turkish presidents will discuss all areas of bilateral relations, and in the second part will tackle the issue of the Syrian settlement.”

“Talks will be mainly devoted to these issues,” he added.

Meanwhile, disagreements persevered between the permanent members of the Security Council over the results of a report on the chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

Head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (OPCW-UN JIM) said on Thursday that ISIS was responsible for using sulfur mustard in a September 2016 attack in Umm Hawsh, and the Syrian Government was accountable for the release of Sarin gas in an April 2017 attack in Khan Sheykhoun.

“There has been sufficient evidence of a credible and reliable nature to make its findings,” said Edmond Mulet, during a briefing on the entity’s latest findings, released on October 26.

In Moscow, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said his country could not keep silent about attempts to use the joint investigation mechanism as a tool to increase pressure on Damascus. He stressed the need to modify the JIM work mechanisms.

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Iran Says Could Abandon Nuclear Weapons But Has Conditions

A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)
A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)
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Iran Says Could Abandon Nuclear Weapons But Has Conditions

A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)
A sample of the surveillance cameras that monitor the Iranian nuclear facilities presented at a press conference in Vienna. (Reuters)

Iran on Saturday hinted it would be willing to negotiate on a nuclear agreement with the upcoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, but that it has conditions.
Last Thursday, the UN atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution ordering Iran to urgently improve cooperation with the agency and requesting a “comprehensive” report aimed at pressuring Iran into fresh nuclear talks.
Ali Larijani, advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said Iran and the US are now in a new position concerning the nuclear file.
In a post on X, he said, “If the current US administration say they are only against Iran’s nuclear weapons, they must accept Iran’s conditions and provide compensation for the damages caused.”

He added, “The US should accept the necessary conditions... so that a new agreement can be reached.”
Larijani stated that Washington withdrew from the JCPOA, thus causing damage to Iran, adding that his country started increasing its production of 60% enriched uranium.
The Iran nuclear accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached to limit the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
The deal began unraveling in 2018, when Washington, under Trump’s first administration, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and re-imposed a sanction regime of “maximum pressure” on Tehran.
In retaliation, Iran has rapidly ramped up its nuclear activities, including by increasing its stockpiles of enriched uranium to 60% — close to the 90% threshold required to develop a nuclear bomb.
It also began gradually rolling back some of its commitments by increasing its uranium stockpiles and enriching beyond the 3.67% purity -- enough for nuclear power stations -- permitted under the deal.
Since 2021, Tehran has significantly decreased its cooperation with the IAEA by deactivating surveillance devices to monitor the nuclear program and barring UN inspectors.
Most recently, Iran escalated its confrontations with the Agency by announcing it would launch a series of “new and advanced” centrifuges. Its move came in response to a resolution adopted by the United Nations nuclear watchdog that censures Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.
Centrifuges are the machines that enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235).
Shortly after the IAEA passed its resolution last Thursday, Tehran spoke about the “dual role” of IAEA’s chief, Raphael Grossi.
Chairman of the Iranian Parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Ebrahim Azizi said, “The statements made by Grossi in Tehran do not match his actions in Vienna.”
And contrary to the statements of Azizi, who denied his country’s plans to build nuclear weapons, Tehran did not originally want to freeze its uranium stockpile enriched to 60%
According to the IAEA’s definition, around 42 kg of uranium enriched to 60% is the amount at which creating one atomic weapon is theoretically possible. The 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Spokesperson and deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on Friday that IAEA inspectors were scheduled to come immediately after the meeting of the Board of Governors to evaluate Iran’s capacity, “with those capacities remaining for a month without any interruption in enrichment at 60% purity.”
Iran’s news agency, Tasnim, quoted Kamalvandi as saying that “the pressures resulting from the IAEA resolution are counterproductive, meaning that they increase our ability to enrich.”
He added: “Currently, not only have we not stopped enrichment, but we have orders to increase the speed, and we are gradually working on that."