Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proposed a video summit with the United States, Britain, France, China, Germany and Iran in\u00a0a bid to avoid \u201cconfrontation and escalation\u201d at the United Nations<\/strong>, where Washington is trying to extend an arms embargo on Tehran,\u00a0reports Reuters<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But it’s hard to know what could be done at this point. Not only did the Trump administration void the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA), but long-standing hawks like Pompeo have sought to ramp up sanctions at every turn.<\/p>\n The situation has been stalemated, with Tehran demanding easing of sanctions or\u00a0erasure altogether as a condition for fresh talks, but with the White House alternately saying Iran has to first abandon all development related to nuclear power (which the US says is actually for nuclear weapons) and its ballistic missile program.<\/p>\n But if Gaddafi’s fate is anything to go by (who abandoned his WMD program in the early 2000s and was “brought in from the cold” as they say – only to be overthrown by US-NATO military intervention and summarily executed in the street years later), the view from Tehran is that any ‘deal-making’ with the United States is impossible.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issue is urgent,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Putin said<\/a>\u00a0of his plan in Friday comments. He explained the\u00a0alternative remains\u00a0\u201conly further escalation of tensions,\u00a0increasing risk of conflict<\/strong>\u00a0– such a scenario must be avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/putiniranproposal.jpg?itok=ueeT7F4M)
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