ISLAMABAD: China on Monday denied US allegations it had conducted secret nuclear explosive tests, accusing Washington of making excuses to start up its own trials. At the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Friday, Thomas DiNanno, US under secretary of state for arms control, accused China of conducting the tests, including one on 22 June 2020, and of preparing for more tests with massive yields. &quot;The US allegations are completely groundless and are outright lies. China firmly opposes the US attempt to fabricate excuses for its own restarting of nuclear tests,&quot; China&#39;s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement to AFP on Monday. It also urged the United States to &quot;immediately stop its irresponsible actions&quot;. US President Donald Trump said in October that Washington would start testing nuclear weapons &quot;on an equal basis&quot; with Moscow and Beijing, but without elaborating or explaining what kind of nuclear testing he wanted to resume. DiNanno&#39;s comments came as he was presenting a new US plan calling for three-way talks with Russia and China to set new limits on nuclear weapons, after the expiration of New START -- the last treaty between top nuclear powers Washington and Moscow, which expired last Thursday. China has already rejected joining disarmament negotiations &quot;at this stage&quot;.

President Donald Trump steps off of Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on February 6, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Samuel Corum / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

China

Beijing dismissed US claims of covert nuclear testing as baseless, accusing Washington of seeking justification to resume its own trials, while rejecting calls for trilateral arms control talks following the expiry of the New START treaty.

China rejects US claims of secret nuclear tests

MUSCAT: Iran and the United States were holding talks in Oman on Friday that were seen as a critical chance to avert any new escalation between the foes, after President Donald Trump threatened military action.&nbsp;With an American naval group led by an aircraft carrier in Middle Eastern waters, Iran has insisted the talks will be centred solely on its nuclear programme, although the US wants to discuss Tehran&#39;s backing for militant groups in the region and its ballistic missile programme.&nbsp;The talks are the first between the two foes since the United States joined Israel&#39;s war with Iran in June with strikes on nuclear sites. They also come just under a month after Iranian authorities launched a crackdown on protests that left thousands dead according to rights groups.&nbsp;US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, accompanied by Trump&#39;s influential son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the Iranian side are leading their delegations at the talks.&nbsp;Iranian state media described the talks as indirect and there was as yet no indication of the Iranian and American officials meeting directly.&nbsp;Images published by the Oman foreign ministry showed both sides meeting separately with Oman&#39;s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi.&nbsp;&quot;The deliberations centred upon establishing the requisite foundations for the resumption of both diplomatic and technical negotiations,&quot; said the Oman foreign ministry, describing the talks as &quot;pivotal&quot;. &#39;Don&#39;t want us to hit them&#39;&nbsp;Araghchi said as the talks began that Tehran maintains &quot;full readiness to defend the country&#39;s sovereignty and national security against any excessive demands or adventurism&quot; by the United States.&nbsp;&quot;Iran enters diplomacy with open eyes and a steady memory of the past year. We engage in good faith and stand firm on our rights,&quot; he added on X.&nbsp;According to Iran&#39;s state television, the Iranian delegation first handed over its message to Oman&#39;s foreign minister which was then passed on to the US.&nbsp;A second such round of talks was now underway, it added.&nbsp;The White House has made clear it wants the talks to rein in Tehran&#39;s ability to make a nuclear bomb, an ambition the Islamic republic has always denied.&nbsp;The US delegation intends to explore &quot;zero nuclear capacity&quot; for Iran, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, warning that Trump had &quot;many options at his disposal aside from diplomacy&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;They&#39;re negotiating,&quot; Trump said of Iran on Thursday.&nbsp;&quot;They don&#39;t want us to hit them, we have a big fleet going there,&quot; he added, referring to the aircraft carrier group he has repeatedly called an &quot;armada&quot;.&nbsp;&#39;Compromise or war&#39;&nbsp;The meeting comes just under a month after the peak of a wave of nationwide protests in Iran against the clerical leadership, which rights groups say were repressed with an unprecedented crackdown that has left thousands dead.&nbsp;Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters and even told demonstrators &quot;help is on its way&quot;.&nbsp;The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that according to its latest toll 6,495 protesters were confirmed to have been killed as well as 214 members of the security forces and 61 bystanders.&nbsp;But it and other rights groups warn that the final toll risks being far higher, with the magnitude of the crackdown masked by the blanket internet shutdown imposed by the authorities for a fortnight.&nbsp;Almost 51,000 people are also confirmed to have been arrested, according to HRANA.&nbsp;But Trump&#39;s rhetoric in recent days has focused on reining in the Iranian nuclear programme.&nbsp;Underlying the gravity of the situation, the United States has manoeuvered a naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the region.&nbsp;The Wall Street Journal cited a source as saying that the head of US military forces in the Middle East would join the latest talks.&nbsp;Iran has repeatedly vowed it will hit back at US bases if attacked.&nbsp;&quot;We are ready to defend and it is the US president who must choose between compromise or war,&quot; state television on Thursday quoted army spokesman General Mohammad Akraminia as saying, warning that Iran has &quot;easy&quot; access to US regional bases.&nbsp;The US initially wanted to hold the talks in Turkey, include regional countries and explicitly expand the agenda beyond nuclear but then had to change course due to Iranian demands, a regional source close to the talks told AFP.

Asia

Americas

Iran and the United States hold indirect talks in Oman to ease rising tensions, focusing on Iran’s nuclear programme, as Washington warns of military options and Tehran insists it will defend its sovereignty firmly today.

Iran, US hold talks in Oman after Trump military threats

TEHRAN: Iran said on Saturday that it was no longer bound by restrictions on its nuclear program as a landmark 10-year deal between it and world powers expired, though Tehran reiterated its &quot;commitment to diplomacy&quot;. The 2015 deal -- signed in Vienna by Iran, China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- saw the lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic republic in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. US unilateral withdrawal&nbsp;But the pact had already been in tatters after Washington unilaterally withdrew during President Donald Trump&#39;s first term, with Iran later pulling back from its commitments. The reimposition last month of UN sanctions at the urging of three of the deal&#39;s European signatories rendered the accord effectively moot. From now on, &quot;all of the provisions (of the deal), including the restrictions on the Iranian nuclear programme and the related mechanisms are considered terminated&quot;, Iran&#39;s foreign ministry said in a statement on the day of the pact&#39;s expiration. &lsquo;Commitment to diplomacy&rsquo;&nbsp;&quot;Iran firmly expresses its commitment to diplomacy,&quot; it added. Western powers have long accused Iran of secretly seeking nuclear weapons -- something it has repeatedly denied, insisting its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes such as energy production. The deal&#39;s &quot;termination day&quot; was set for October 18, 2025, exactly 10 years after it was enshrined in the UN&#39;s Security Council resolution 2231. The accord capped Iran&#39;s uranium enrichment at 3.67% in exchange for sanctions relief and provided for strict supervision of its nuclear activities by the UN&#39;s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). <h2 style="line-height: 2;">&#39;Irresponsible actions&#39;&nbsp;</h2>In July, Iran suspended cooperation with the IAEA following the war with Israel, with Tehran pointing to the agency&#39;s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities. The unprecedented bombing campaign by Israel and the retaliation by Iran during the 12-day war derailed ongoing nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington. At the initiative of France, Britain, and Germany, widespread UN sanctions against Iran returned into force in late September for the first time in a decade. &lsquo;Null and void&rsquo;&nbsp;Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a letter addressed to the United Nations on Saturday that the expiration of the 2015 deal renders the sanctions &quot;null and void&quot;. Britain, France, and Germany accuse Iran of not cooperating with the IAEA and would like it to return to negotiations with the United States. &quot;Iran&#39;s efforts to revive the exchanges (with the IAEA) that led to the agreement in Cairo were also sabotaged by the irresponsible actions of the three European countries,&quot; the Iranian foreign ministry said in Saturday&#39;s statement, referring to a recent framework to resume cooperation.

Middle East

The reimposition last month of United Nations sanctions at the urging of three of the deal's European signatories rendered the accord effectively moot. 

Iran says no longer bound by 'restrictions' on its nuclear program

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has praised Pakistan for its progress in developing a peaceful nuclear program and its strong collaboration with the global agency, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported Saturday.&nbsp;Grossi made these remarks after meeting with Dr. Raja Ali Raza Anwar, Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), during the 69th IAEA General Conference in Vienna on Saturday.&nbsp;He noted that Pakistan&rsquo;s nuclear power program is advancing &ldquo;at a good pace,&rdquo; especially with the ongoing construction of the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit-5 (C-5). The director general recalled his visit to the site in February 2025, when the first concrete was poured, a key milestone in Pakistan&rsquo;s efforts to enhance energy security through clean and sustainable nuclear power.&nbsp;During the meeting, according to APP, Grossi and Anwar reviewed several areas of cooperation between the IAEA and Pakistan, focusing on initiatives like Atoms4Food, which uses nuclear technology to improve crop yields, food safety, and pest control. They also discussed the Rays of Hope program, which works to expand access to nuclear medicine and radiotherapy for cancer treatment across the Asia-Pacific region.&nbsp;Grossi commended Pakistan for its active involvement in IAEA programs, particularly in capacity-building, training, and applying nuclear knowledge to socio-economic development. He emphasized that Pakistan continues to play a vital role in advancing the peaceful use of nuclear science and technology.&nbsp;For his part, Chairman Anwar reaffirmed Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to the peaceful use of nuclear technology, in alignment with both national development priorities and IAEA frameworks. He emphasized that Pakistan&rsquo;s nuclear power plants operate under the highest safety standards, contributing significantly to the national energy mix by providing reliable, low-carbon electricity. He added that PAEC&rsquo;s efforts are closely aligned with the IAEA&rsquo;s goals of promoting nuclear technology for peace, health, and prosperity.&nbsp;The meeting also provided a platform to discuss Pakistan&rsquo;s contributions to regional initiatives under the IAEA, particularly in the Asia-Pacific. Pakistan&rsquo;s expertise in nuclear applications is being shared with other member states, furthering regional cooperation.&nbsp;Pakistan reiterated its commitment to continuing cooperation with the IAEA and its member states, advancing peaceful nuclear initiatives, promoting sustainable development, and improving the quality of life for people across the region.

Security

IAEA Director General discusses several initiatives with Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Chairman.

Articles tagged with "Nuclear Program"

China rejects US claims of secret nuclear tests

Iran, US hold talks in Oman after Trump military threats

Iran says no longer bound by 'restrictions' on its nuclear program

International Atomic Energy Agency commends Pakistan’s progress in peaceful nuclear program