UN Chief Sends Russia New Proposals to Revive Black Sea Grain Deal but Moscow Isn't Satisfied

FILE PHOTO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks about the Black Sea grain corridor outside UN Security Council at UN headquarters in New York City, US, July 17, 2023.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks about the Black Sea grain corridor outside UN Security Council at UN headquarters in New York City, US, July 17, 2023.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
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UN Chief Sends Russia New Proposals to Revive Black Sea Grain Deal but Moscow Isn't Satisfied

FILE PHOTO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks about the Black Sea grain corridor outside UN Security Council at UN headquarters in New York City, US, July 17, 2023.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks about the Black Sea grain corridor outside UN Security Council at UN headquarters in New York City, US, July 17, 2023.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

The United Nations chief sent Russia a new proposal aimed at getting its grain and fertilizer to global markets in hopes of reviving the deal that allowed Ukraine to ship almost 33,000 tons of grain at a time of growing global hunger.
But Moscow wasn’t satisfied with the letter that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week.
Speaking at a press conference Thursday after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Lavrov said he had given Ankara a list of actions that the West would have to take in order to resume Ukrainian shipments.
The United Nations and Türkiye brokered the deal in July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports. A separate memorandum between the UN and Russia pledged to overcome obstacles to Moscow’s shipment of food and fertilizer to world markets.
The deal followed Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine which sent global food prices skyrocketing because the two countries are major “breadbaskets” for the world, The Associated Press said.
Guterres told UN reporters on Thursday that he had written a letter to Lavrov with “a set of concrete proposals, allowing to create the conditions for the renewal of the Black Sea initiative.” He did not give any details other than to say, “we have some concrete solutions for the concerns allowing for an effective, or more effective access of Russian food and fertilizers to global markets at adequate prices.”
Russia suspended the Black Sea grain initiative in July. It repeatedly complained that the Ukraine deal largely benefitted richer nations, and that Russia still had difficulties obtaining financing, insurance and shipping for its fertilizer and grain shipments.
Data from the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which organized the Ukraine shipments, shows that 57% of the grain from Ukraine went to developing nations, with the top destination being China, which received nearly a quarter of the food.
Türkiye’s Fidan told reporters his meeting with Lavrov in Moscow was “preparation” for an upcoming meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.
Describing the grain deal as “quite a complicated and laborious job,” Fidan said when Erdogan and Putin get together they “will take a more strategic and political view.”
Fidan is also due to meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was involved in the deal's negotiations, on Sept 1.
Lavrov told reporters: “As soon as talks turn into concrete decisions, we’ll be ready to resume the Ukrainian part of the grain package that same day.”
The UN’s Guterres said a renewed Black Sea initiative must be “stable” – and not move “from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension.” The original agreement for 120 days was extended once for 120 days and twice for 60 days.
“I believe that working seriously we can have a positive solution for everybody —for the Ukraine, for the Russian Federation, but more important than everything else for the world in a moment in which so many countries are facing enormous difficulties in relation to guarantee the food security of their populations,” he told reporters.
Guterres said that he saw little prospect of peace in Ukraine before the General Assembly’s annual meeting of world leaders starting Sept. 18. He said that’s why he stressed the need to “take measures to reduce the dramatically negative impacts of this war in relation to the world.”



UN Nuclear Chief in Tehran ahead of Fresh Iran-US Talks

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a press conference on the opening day of his agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a press conference on the opening day of his agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
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UN Nuclear Chief in Tehran ahead of Fresh Iran-US Talks

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a press conference on the opening day of his agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a press conference on the opening day of his agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi met the head of Iran's atomic energy agency, Mohammad Eslami, on Thursday ahead of a fresh round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.

Iranian and US delegations are to gather in Rome on Saturday for a second round of Omani-mediated negotiations, a week after the longtime foes held their highest-level talks since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018, AFP said.

There were no immediate details on Grossi's meeting with Eslami, but Iran's reformist Shargh newspaper described his visit as "strategically significant at the current juncture".

On Wednesday, Grossi met with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the first round of talks with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday.

Araghchi said he had had a "useful" meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency chief.

"The IAEA can play a crucial role in peaceful settlement of the Iranian nuclear file in the coming months," he said.

Araghchi called on the IAEA chief to "keep the agency away from politics" in the face of "spoilers" seeking to "derail current negotiations". He did not elaborate.

Grossi said their meeting was "important".

"Cooperation with IAEA is indispensable to provide credible assurances about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program at a time when diplomacy is urgently needed," he said on X.

'Not far' from possessing bomb

Before heading to Iran, Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde that Tehran was "not far" from possessing a nuclear bomb.

Western governments have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.

A year after Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran began rolling back its own commitments under the agreement, which gave it relief from sanctions in return for IAEA-monitored restrictions on its nuclear activities.

In its latest report, the IAEA said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilograms (605 pounds) of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent.

That level far exceeds the 3.67 percent enrichment ceiling set by the 2015 deal, but still falls short of the 90 percent threshold required for a nuclear warhead.

Since he returned to office in January, Trump has revived his "maximum pressure" policy of punishing economic sanctions against Iran.

In March, he sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei urging talks and warning of possible military action if Iran refused.

On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities in favor of seeking a negotiated deal.

'Conflicting positions'

On Tuesday, Khamenei cautioned that while the talks with the United States had started well, they could yet prove fruitless.

"The negotiations may or may not yield results," he said.

On Wednesday, Araghchi said Iran's enrichment of uranium was not up for discussion after Witkoff called for a halt.

Witkoff had previously demanded only that Iran return to the 3.67 percent enrichment ceiling set by the 2015 deal.

Araghchi said he hoped to start negotiations on the framework of a possible agreement, but that this required "constructive positions" from the United States.

"If we continue to (hear) contradictory and conflicting positions, we are going to have problems," he warned.

On Thursday, Iran's top diplomat headed to Moscow on a "pre-planned" visit to the Tehran ally.

The Kremlin said that Russia stood ready to do "everything" in its power to help resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.