Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Iran nuclear talks in Beijing, Canada’s new prime minister being sworn in, and former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte appearing before the International Criminal Court.

Sanctions Pushback

High-level officials from China, Russia, and Iran convened in Beijing on Friday to call for an end to U.S. sanctions on Tehran over its advancing nuclear program.

“[T]he relevant parties should be committed to addressing the root cause of the current situation and abandoning sanction, pressure, or threat of force,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu read from a joint statement, adding that dialogue based on “mutual respect” is the only viable path forward.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed a five-point plan for “the proper settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue.” His proposal includes ending sanctions, restarting multinational talks, and using the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as the basis of future negotiations.

The proposal is likely to face U.S. pushback. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 deal during his first term, arguing that it was not restrictive enough on Tehran’s nuclear program and that the sanctions relief that it provided was enabling Iran to fund its proxy groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Trump wrote to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week in an effort to jump-start new talks. “There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal,” Trump said at the time. And on Thursday, the Trump administration issued new sanctions on Tehran as part of the U.S. president’s “maximum pressure” strategy, which is aimed at forcing Iran back to the negotiating table.

But Iran’s leadership seems disinclined to talk to Washington. “When we know they [the United States] won’t honor it, what’s the point of negotiating?” Khamenei said on Wednesday, adding to previous comments that he is not interested in talks with a “bullying government.”

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi maintained on Friday that the country’s nuclear program is “peaceful in nature.” But the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) remains concerned. According to the IAEA’s most recent quarterly reports, Iran now enriches uranium at up to 60 percent purity. The agency believes that within a few weeks, Iran could reach the 90 percent weapons-grade level enrichment threshold. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was only allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent purity.

A closed-door meeting this week with six members of the United Nations Security Council to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program drew ire from Iran, which said that the session was a “misuse” of the council’s purpose. Yet as FP’s Lili Pike noted, Iran was willing to participate in Friday’s nuclear talks in Beijing with China and Russia, as both are close partners of Tehran’s.

As for why China is taking such a direct interest in nuclear diplomacy with the country right now: “The potential risk of a military conflict over the Iranian nuclear crisis could introduce so much regional instability and chaos that could further disrupt China’s geo-economic and geopolitical interests,” Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s nuclear policy program, told Pike. “More nuclear confrontation among more nuclear-armed countries is not necessarily good news for any future leader of the international system,” Zhao added.

Today’s Most Read

What We’re Following

Carney takes on Washington. Former central banker Mark Carney was sworn in on Tuesday as Canada’s new prime minister. Carney is best known for leading the Bank of Canada through the 2008 global recession and the Bank of England through Brexit, and the Liberal Party hopes that Carney’s economic experience will be enough to counter Trump’s aggressive tariff policies as well as his repeated efforts to make Canada the 51st U.S. state.

Talks are already underway to schedule a call between Carney and Trump, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said on Friday. But senior U.S. officials reportedly told a Canadian delegation on Thursday that there is no way that Ottawa will be able to avoid the next round of expected duties, which will be imposed on April 2. In that vein, Carney’s first foreign trip as prime minister on Monday will not be to Washington (as it has historically often been) but to Paris and London, where he will discuss Trump’s tariff threats.

Carney is the first Canadian head of government to have never held elected office before. With the Liberal Party holding a minority of seats in the House of Commons, Carney will likely have to call for a federal election by May.

Ambassador expelled. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Friday that the South African ambassador to the United States was “no longer welcome in our great country.”

“Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA,” Rubio wrote in a late-afternoon post on X.

Tensions between Washington and Pretoria have risen sharply since Trump took office, with the U.S. president and his officials accusing the country’s leaders of “unjust racial discrimination” against white South Africans under the country’s land reform law. The White House has also objected to Pretoria’s stance on Israel, including its case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Rasool had found himself shut out of meetings with top U.S. officials, including State Department members, since the Trump administration took office, Semafor reported on Wednesday. According to one South African diplomat, this was likely due to Rasool’s past criticism of Israel. “A man named Ebrahim, who is Muslim, with a history of pro-Palestine politics, is not likely to do well in that job right now,” the diplomat told Semafor.

Duterte vs. the ICC. Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was set to appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the first time on Friday to face charges accusing him of committing crimes against humanity during his war on drugs. But his legal team told the ICC justices that Duterte was too ill to give evidence. According to presiding ICC judge Iulia Motoc, though, the court doctor who examined Duterte upon his arrival had determined that he was “fully mentally aware and fit.”

Duterte eventually appeared before the court via a video link. “As Mr. Duterte made a long journey, involving a considerable time difference, the chamber authorized Mr. Duterte to follow the hearing at a distance,” Motoc said.

Philippine authorities arrested Duterte on Tuesday at Manila’s international airport on the ICC arrest warrant, but Duterte’s lawyers on Friday accused the country’s security personnel of “pure and simple kidnapping.” Duterte stands accused of presiding over torture and rape as well as  large-scale killings of thousands of people between November 2011 and March 2019.

Tougher national security. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te formally labeled China as a “foreign hostile force” on Thursday as part of a controversial new proposal to bolster Taipei’s national security. Lai accused Beijing of increasing gray zone attacks and infiltrating Taiwan’s state institutions. On Friday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry detected 12 Chinese fighter jets, seven navy ships, and one “official” vessel near the island.

As part of Lai’s proposal, Taipei would reestablish its peacetime military court system to prosecute “military crimes as sedition, aiding the enemy, leaking confidential information, dereliction of duty, or disobedience.” Beijing quickly condemned the move, calling Lai a “destroyer of cross-straits peace” and accusing him of pushing Taiwan toward the “perilous brink of war.”

What in the World?

On Monday, which militant group in Syria agreed to fully integrate into the new Syrian state?

A. Syrian Democratic Forces
B. Syrian National Army
C. National Front for Liberation
D. Al-Nusra Front

Odds and Ends

An American influencer left Australia on Friday after Canberra announced that it was reviewing her visa. Sam Jones, a self-described “outdoor enthusiast & hunter” had posted a video of herself this week snatching a baby wombat from its mother, igniting fierce outcry among Australians. “To take a baby wombat from its mother, and clearly causing distress to its mother, is just an outrage,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday, adding that maybe the influencer should “take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there” rather than going after an animal that cannot defend itself.

A new TikTok account claiming to have been created by Jones after the incident posted an apology, calling her handling of the animal “a mistake” and saying that she had received death threats over it.

And the Answer Is…

A. Syrian Democratic Forces

Despite the promise such an agreement presents for Syria’s future, long-standing ethnic and sectarian divisions will be difficult to overcome, FP’s Steven Cook writes.

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