China to Launch ‘Targeted Military Operations’ Due to Pelosi Visit

Pedestrians wait at an intersection near a screen showing footage of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft during an evening news program, in Beijing, China August 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Pedestrians wait at an intersection near a screen showing footage of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft during an evening news program, in Beijing, China August 2, 2022. (Reuters)
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China to Launch ‘Targeted Military Operations’ Due to Pelosi Visit

Pedestrians wait at an intersection near a screen showing footage of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft during an evening news program, in Beijing, China August 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Pedestrians wait at an intersection near a screen showing footage of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft during an evening news program, in Beijing, China August 2, 2022. (Reuters)

The Chinese military has been put on high alert and will launch "targeted military operations" in response to US House Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, China's defense ministry said on Tuesday night.

Separately, the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command said it will conduct joint military operations near Taiwan from Tuesday night.

The exercises will include joint air and sea drills in the north, southwest and southeast of Taiwan, long-range live firing in the Taiwan Strait, and missile test-launches in the sea east of Taiwan, the Eastern Theatre Command said.

The defense ministry did not provide details about what the targeted military operations would include, or if they were separate from the exercises announced by Eastern Theater Command.

State news agency Xinhua said earlier on Tuesday the Chinese military would conduct live-firing drills and other exercises around Taiwan from Aug. 4 to Aug. 7.



Iran, UK, France, Germany to Hold Nuclear Talks on Friday

Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran, UK, France, Germany to Hold Nuclear Talks on Friday

Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will hold nuclear talks in Rome on Friday with Britain, France and Germany, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday, with the aim of improving strained ties at a time of high-stakes nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.
The meeting will precede a fourth round of nuclear talks this weekend between Iran and the United States, also to be held in Italy.
"In my opinion, the three European countries have lost their role (in the nuclear file) due to the wrong policies they have adopted. Of course, we do not want this and are ready to hold talks with them in Rome," Araqchi told state media.
Reuters reported on Monday that Tehran had proposed meeting the European countries, collectively known as the E3, which are parties to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
E3 political directors confirmed they would meet with Iran on Friday.
Trump has threatened to attack Iran unless it agrees to a new nuclear deal. Iran has far exceeded the 2015 agreement's curbs on its nuclear program since the United States withdrew, and the European countries share Washington's concern that Tehran could seek an atomic bomb. Iran says its program is peaceful.
A UN Security Council resolution ratifying the 2015 accord expires in October, and France's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Paris would not think twice about re-imposing international sanctions if negotiations fail to reach a deal.
"These sanctions would permanently close off Iranian access
to technology, investment, and the European market, with devastating effects on the country's economy," Jean-Noel Barrot said.
Iran's UN representative responded: "If France and its partners are truly seeking a diplomatic solution, they must stop threatening."
On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on what it described as a network based in Iran and China accused of procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Araqchi said US sanctions during negotiations sent the "wrong message".
Trump has said he is confident of clinching a new pact that would block Iran's path to a nuclear bomb.