Iran nuclear negotiator holds talks with China



BEIJING // Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator has held talks in Beijing with top Chinese diplomats, officials from both sides said Thursday, as Tehran prepares to open its nuclear facilities to foreign guests.

Ali Bagheri met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Hailong on Wednesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said.

"The two sides exchanged views on China, Iranian bilateral relations as well as the Iranian nuclear issue," he said.

Iranian embassy spokesman Mohammad Ali Ziaei confirmed the meetings, saying the two sides had discussed the Islamic republic's "peaceful nuclear activities", and said on Thursday that Bagheri had headed back to Tehran.

China is among a group of nations invited by Iran to visit the country's main uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and the heavy water facility at Arak over the weekend.

Beijing last week confirmed it had received the invitation but did not say whether it had accepted the offer. Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Thursday suggested the Chinese envoy might not be able to attend.

The unusual move to open up its facilities comes as Tehran works to garner support for its atomic drive in the run-up to fresh talks with six world powers in Turkey at month's end, aimed at ascertaining the nature of Iran's programme.

Tehran insists it only seeks to meet the energy needs of its population, while the West and Israel charge that it is developing nuclear weapons.

The previous round of talks -- bringing together Iran, Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- was held in Geneva on December 6-7 after a 14-month hiatus.

"China hopes the talks can help all parties build mutual trust and consensus. China also hopes positive progress can be made at the talks," Hong told reporters.

"We are willing to make joint efforts to achieve this goal."

Diplomatic sources at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, said invitations for the visit had gone out to Russia, China, Egypt and Cuba, as well as to Hungary as rotating president of the European Union.

However, the sources said the United States, Britain, France and Germany were not on the list.

Iran's IAEA envoy has reportedly said that representatives from allies Venezuela and Syria would join the Saturday-to-Monday visit.

The European Union said it would not attend.

Such visits are rare. The last trip that Tehran arranged for members of the IAEA was in February 2007.

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Ferrari
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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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