Iran turns to diplomacy amid high regional tensions

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Iran's foreign minister will embark on a diplomatic tour to try to salvage the nuclear deal amid high tensions following the US withdrawal and global fears over reports of unprecedented clashes with Israel in Syria.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will leave late tomorrow for visits to Beijing, Moscow and Brussels, a spokesman said today, holding meetings with all five of the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Zarif will hold high-pressure talks with the other parties to the deal, first in Beijing and Moscow, and then with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Brussels on Tuesday.

All five have condemned Trump's move to walk out of the deal and reimpose crippling sanctions, but European companies in particular will be highly vulnerable to economic pressure from Washington.

France still hopes for a wider settlement that will cover Iran's activities across the Middle East, and warned Tehran on Thursday "against any temptation for regional dominance".

President Hassan Rouhani told German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telephone call late Thursday that he did not want "new tensions" in the Middle East.

Iran has said it will stay in the deal only if the remaining members - Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia - can provide solid guarantees that its trade benefits will continue in spite of renewed US sanctions.

Russia - which is alone in having close relations with both Iran and Israel -- has sought to position itself as a mediator to prevent all-out war.

Its foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said "all issues should be solved through dialogue" and that it had warned Israel to avoid "all actions that could be seen as provocative".

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