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Iran's Top Diplomat to Visit China on Tuesday

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Iran's Top Diplomat to Visit China on Tuesday

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will visit China on Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, ahead of a third round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington due on Saturday in Oman.

In a trip to Moscow last week, Araqchi told state TV that Tehran always closely consults with its friends, Russia and China, over the nuclear issue.

"It is natural that we will consult and brief China over the latest developments in Iran-US indirect talks," Baghaei said, adding that Beijing can play a constructive role in this process.

Long-time foes Iran and the US started negotiations earlier this month with the aim of placing limits on Tehran's nuclear program, which Western powers say is geared toward developing nuclear weapons.

Tehran has long denied such accusations and seeks in exchange the lifting of US sanctions that were re-imposed by President Donald Trump during his first term in office (2017-2021), when he withdrew from a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers, including China and Russia.

Since taking office in January, Trump has ratcheted pressure on Iran and has for the first time sanctioned Chinese "teapot" refineries - small, independent plants - that process Iranian crude oil and have provided an economic lifeline to Tehran's squeezed economy.

"The policy of maximum pressure is not just against Iran but also other countries and goes against freedom of trade. In the case of China, sanctions also seek to disrupt south-south cooperation," Baghaei said.

Beijing accounted for at least 77% of Iran’s roughly 1.6 million bpd of exported crude in 2024, according to analytics firm Kpler. The value of Iran's crude sales to China is not officially disclosed, but a Reuters calculation puts the trade at nearly $29 billion last year, assuming a 20% discount to Brent crude prices to include the cost of logistics.

"China and Iran have maintained exchanges and contacts at all levels and in various fields. With regard to the specific visit mentioned, I have no information to offer at the moment," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday regarding Araqchi's upcoming visit.

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World

EU Foreign Policy Chief Calls for ‘Diplomatic Solution’ on Iran 

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)
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EU Foreign Policy Chief Calls for ‘Diplomatic Solution’ on Iran 

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged a "diplomatic solution" on Iran on Monday ahead of expected talks between Tehran and Washington, as US President Donald Trump threatens strikes on the country.

"We don't need another war in this region. We already have a lot," Kallas said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

"It is true that Iran is at its weakest point that they have been. We should be really using this time to find a diplomatic solution."

World

North Korea Touts Nuclear Advances as Kim Re-Chosen to Lead Ruling Party 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds as he attends the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) where he was re-elected as general secretary, in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 22, 2026, in this picture released February 23, 2026 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds as he attends the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) where he was re-elected as general secretary, in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 22, 2026, in this picture released February 23, 2026 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
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North Korea Touts Nuclear Advances as Kim Re-Chosen to Lead Ruling Party 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds as he attends the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) where he was re-elected as general secretary, in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 22, 2026, in this picture released February 23, 2026 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds as he attends the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) where he was re-elected as general secretary, in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 22, 2026, in this picture released February 23, 2026 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)

North Korea's ruling party touted nuclear advances as it re-elected Kim Jong Un to the top post of general secretary, state media said Monday, during a rare national congress.

Thousands of party elites have packed the capital Pyongyang for a once-in-five-years summit of the ruling Workers' Party, a gathering that directs state efforts on everything from diplomacy to war planning.

The congress offers a rare glimpse into the political workings of reclusive North Korea, and is widely seen as a forum for Kim to flex his grip on power.

Military top brass made a "pledge of loyalty" to Kim as delegates rubber-stamped his re-election as general secretary on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency said.

The congress singled out Kim's efforts to keep unnamed foes at bay by "radically" improving its "nuclear forces".

"He has energetically led the work to turn the Korean People's Army, the pivot of national defense and pillar of safeguarding peace, into an elite and powerful army," read a party statement.

"And thus (he has) built the revolutionary armed forces capable of coping with any threat of aggression on their own initiative and fully prepared for any form of war."

China's President Xi Jinping hailed a "new chapter" in relations with North Korea after Kim's re-election.

In a striking display of his elevated status on the world stage, Kim appeared alongside Xi and Russia's Vladimir Putin at a military parade in Beijing last year.

Kim is expected to unveil the next phase in North Korea's nuclear weapons program later in the days-long congress.

Under Kim, North Korea's nuclear arsenal has been transformed from a source of mild global concern to something treated as a genuine threat.

It has been more than eight years since North Korea's last nuclear test triggered a man-made earthquake underneath the northern Hamyong mountains.

Pyongyang's atomic scientists have worked since then to harness this power in portable warheads that can be attached to long-range missiles.

Kim unveiled a battery of huge nuclear-capable rocket launchers just days before the congress opened.

- Friend or foe -

Photos released by state media showed dozens of launch vehicles parked in neat rows on the plaza of Pyongyang's House of Culture.

It is just the ninth time the Workers' Party congress has convened under North Korea's decades-spanning Kim rule.

The meeting was shelved for decades under Kim's father Kim Jong Il, but was revived in 2016.

Analysts will scour photographs to see which officials are seated closest to Kim, and who is banished to the back row.

Particular attention will be placed on the whereabouts of Kim's teenage daughter Ju Ae, who has emerged as North Korea's heir apparent according to Seoul's national intelligence service.

At the previous congress five years ago, Kim declared that the United States was his nation's "biggest enemy".

There is keen interest in whether Kim might use the congress to soften this stance, or double down.

US President Donald Trump stepped up his courtship of Kim during a tour of Asia last year, saying he was "100 percent" open to a meeting.

Kim has so far largely shunned efforts to resume top-level diplomatic dialogue.

World

Australia Rejects Report it is Repatriating Families of ISIS Militants from Syrian Camp

FILE PHOTO: Members of Australian families believed to be linked to ISIS militants leave Roj camp near Derik, Syria February 16, 2026. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Australian families believed to be linked to ISIS militants leave Roj camp near Derik, Syria February 16, 2026. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo
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Australia Rejects Report it is Repatriating Families of ISIS Militants from Syrian Camp

FILE PHOTO: Members of Australian families believed to be linked to ISIS militants leave Roj camp near Derik, Syria February 16, 2026. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Australian families believed to be linked to ISIS militants leave Roj camp near Derik, Syria February 16, 2026. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo

Australia's center-left government ‌on Sunday rejected a local media report that said it was working to repatriate Australians in a Syrian camp holding families of suspected ISIS militants.

The 34 women and children were released on Monday from the camp in northern Syria, but returned to the detention center due to technical reasons. The group is expected to travel to ‌Damascus before eventually returning ‌to Australia, despite objections from ‌ruling ⁠and opposition lawmakers.

On ⁠Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke rejected claims made in a report in the Sunday Telegraph, asserting that official preparations were under way for the cohort’s return.

"In that report, it makes a claim that ⁠we are conducting a repatriation. We are ‌not," Burke told ‌Australian Broadcasting Corp television.

"It claims we have been ‌meeting with the states for the purposes of ‌a repatriation. We have not," Burke added.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who leads Australia's Labor Party, said this week his government would not help ‌the group return to Australia.

The return of relatives of suspected ISIS ⁠militants ⁠is a political issue in Australia, which has seen a surge in popularity of the right-wing, anti-immigration One Nation party led by Pauline Hanson.