‘No Sense of Fatigue’ When It Comes to Support for Ukraine, Blinken Says 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference following the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting on Ukraine at its Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium November 29, 2023. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference following the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting on Ukraine at its Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium November 29, 2023. (Reuters)
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‘No Sense of Fatigue’ When It Comes to Support for Ukraine, Blinken Says 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference following the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting on Ukraine at its Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium November 29, 2023. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference following the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting on Ukraine at its Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium November 29, 2023. (Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that there was "no sense of fatigue" among NATO allies when it came to helping Ukraine. 

"We must and we will continue to support Ukraine," he said after a NATO-Ukraine meeting in Brussels, adding that NATO allies were unanimous on this position and that he was also hearing continued support for Ukraine in both chambers of the US Congress. 

Kyiv has been concerned that the Israel-Hamas war could divert international attention away from its efforts to defeat Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the West earlier on Wednesday to ramp up arms production. 

The European Union has delivered about 300,000 of its promised 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine so far, he said. 

"We need to create a Euro-Atlantic common area of defense industries," Kuleba said before meeting the NATO foreign ministers, adding this would ensure both Ukraine's security and that of NATO countries themselves. 

Kyiv has recently engaged in a concerted drive to entice leading global arms manufacturers to set up operations in Ukraine, part of a bid to diversify its reliance on weapons and ammunition given by its allies. 

"It is important that our solidarity with Ukraine is not only demonstrated in words but also in deeds," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, urging allies to do more. "These are concrete actions, we need more of them and we need sustained and stepped up support." 

Russia has amassed a large missile stockpile ahead of winter, Stoltenberg warned. 

Russia "is now weaker militarily, politically and economically," he said. "At the same time we must not underestimate Russia," he added, stressing that Russia had been making new attempts to strike Ukraine's power grid and energy infrastructure, "trying to leave Ukraine in the dark and cold." 



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.