Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has proposed setting up an international organisation to study ways to counteract sanctions after meeting Russian and Chinese ministers at a Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit on Tuesday.
Iran's economy is struggling under the weight of western sanctions imposed over Tehran's nuclear programme, which has been a source of friction for decades.
Iran relies heavily on economic links with Beijing and Moscow, and is part of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping whose members also include China, Russia, India and Pakistan. Tianjin, in northern China, is hosting the organisation's 25th foreign ministers meeting.
Mr Araghchi said in a post on Telegram that the SCO should establish a “Centre for Studies and Counteraction to Unilateral Sanctions” to develop strategies to counter “illegal economic sanctions” and protect supply chains, banking systems and the trade exchanges of its member states.
He also sought support for Iran following its 12-day aerial war with Israel last month. Israel and the US launched air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities which they said were part of a nuclear programme geared towards weaponisation. Tehran denies having any such plans.
Mr Araghchi said the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation should also “establish a permanent mechanism to monitor, document and co-ordinate responses to military aggression, acts of sabotage, state terrorism and violations of national sovereignty”.
“The SCO is gradually opening up its place in the global arena, meaning it is gradually going beyond the regional arena, and it has many different issues on its agenda, including in the economic, political and security fields,” he added.
He said he would be holding bilateral meetings with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the event. Iranian state news agency Irna said Mr Araghchi also met Chinese President Xi Jinping and would hold talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Mr Lavrov confirmed the meeting with Mr Araghchi had taken place and said they had discussed how to reach a peaceful solution to the Israeli conflict.
Since the reimposition of American sanctions on Iran during Donald Trump’s first term as US president, Tehran has deepened ties with Moscow through a 20-year strategic pact, as well as with Beijing, which buys as much as 90 per cent of Iranian oil exports.
Mr Araghchi's visit to China is his first since the 12-day war with Israel, during which Beijing adopted a posture of non-interference in the conflict.
The biog
Favourite book: You Are the Placebo – Making your mind matter, by Dr Joe Dispenza
Hobby: Running and watching Welsh rugby
Travel destination: Cyprus in the summer
Life goals: To be an aspirational and passionate University educator, enjoy life, be healthy and be the best dad possible.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
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Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
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KEY%20DATES%20IN%20AMAZON'S%20HISTORY
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
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Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
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• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
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The five pillars of Islam
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