Nuclear threat: Western powers discuss Ukraine, Iran situations

U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have discussed the situation around Ukraine’s nuclear plant and called for restraint around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya plant.

In a statement on Sunday, the White House said the four leaders spoke by phone and called for a “quick visit” to the nuclear site by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“They also discussed the situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, including the need to avoid military operations near the plant and the importance of an IAEA visit as soon as feasible to ascertain the state of safety systems,” the White House said.

The leaders also affirmed their continued support for Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Russian aggression.

The four leaders’ call came as Ukrainian officials reported the shelling of Nikopol, a city near Zaprozhzhia, overnight.

A flare-up in fighting around the nuclear power station, with both sides blaming each other for attacks, has raised the spectre of a disaster worse than in Chernobyl.

The world’s worst nuclear disaster took place in 1986, about 110km (68 miles) north of the capital Kyiv, when an explosion at the plant’s fourth reactor sent clouds of radiation billowing across much of Europe.

Also Read: UN demands access to Ukraine nuclear plant 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said the consequences of a radiation accident at Zaporizhzhia “could be even more catastrophic than Chernobyl, and essentially the same as the use of nuclear weapons by Russia, but without a nuclear strike”.

Iran nuclear deal

According to the White House statement, the leaders also discussed efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“In addition, they discussed ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, the need to strengthen support for partners in the Middle East region, and joint efforts to deter and constrain Iran’s destabilizing regional activities,” the White House said.

The European Union and United States last week said they were studying Iran’s response to what the EU has called its “final” proposal to revive the deal, under which Tehran curbed its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief.

In 2018, former US President Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear deal reached before he took office.

Trump said the deal was too soft on Iran and re-imposed harsh U.S. sanctions spurring the Islamic Republic to begin breaching its limits on uranium enrichment.

Zainab Sa’id