Russia and China’s foreign ministers on Sunday discussed their relations with the United States and the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine, China and Russia’s foreign ministries said in a statement.

President Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Beijing on Sunday. Lavrov is due to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) foreign ministers in China, Reuters reported.

“The parties also discussed relations with the United States and prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis,” Russia’s foreign ministry said.

“The importance of strengthening close coordination between the two countries in the international arena, including in the United Nations and its Security Council, the SCO, BRICS, the G20 and APEC, was emphasized,” the ministry said.

The close contact between the two countries was to “promote the development and revitalisation of each other, and jointly respond to the challenges brought about by a turbulent and changing world,” China’s Foreign Ministry said.

Both sides also exchanged views on the Korean Peninsula and the Iranian nuclear issue, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

China and Russia declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing, days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. Putin has sometimes described China as an “ally”, read the report.

The U.S. casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat.

Iran plans to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog despite restrictions imposed by its parliament, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, while stressing that access to its bombed nuclear sites posed security and safety issues, Reuters reported.

A new law passed in Iran following last month’s Israeli and U.S. bombing campaign stipulates that inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs approval by the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top security body.

The Israeli and U.S. strikes targeted a nuclear programme which Western countries have long said was aimed at building an atomic weapon. Iran has long said its nuclear programme is purely peaceful.

Any negotiations over Iran’s future nuclear programme are likely to require its cooperation with the IAEA, which angered Iran last month by declaring on the eve of the Israeli strikes that Tehran was violating non-proliferation treaty commitments.

“The risk of spreading radioactive materials and the risk of exploding leftover munitions … are serious,” state media cited Araqchi as saying. “For us, IAEA inspectors approaching nuclear sites has both a security aspect … and the safety of the inspectors themselves is a matter that must be examined.”

While Iran’s cooperation with the nuclear watchdog has not stopped, it will take a new form and will be guided and managed through the Supreme National Security Council, Araqchi told Tehran-based diplomats.

“The IAEA’s requests for continued monitoring in Iran will be … decided on a case-by-case basis by the Council with consideration to safety and security issues,” Araqchi said.

Iran will not agree to any nuclear deal that does not allow it to enrich uranium, Araqchi reiterated. Iran would only agree to talks limited to its nuclear programme and not encompassing defence issues such as its missiles.

Axios cited sources on Saturday as saying Russian President Vladimir Putin had voiced support for the idea of an accord in which Tehran would be barred from enriching uranium. Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim quoted an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any such message to Iran.

Speaking to the state news agency IRNA, Araqchi said Iran was carefully considering the details of any renewed nuclear talks with the U.S. and seeking assurances that Washington would not again resort to military force. “We are in no hurry to enter into unconsidered negotiations,” he added.

Araqchi also said any move by Britain, France and Germany to reimpose international sanctions on Iran through a so-called “snapback” mechanism under an earlier nuclear deal would “end Europe’s role” in Iran’s nuclear issue.

Under the terms of a U.N. resolution ratifying a 2015 nuclear pact, the three European powers could reimpose United Nations sanctions against Tehran by October 18, 2025, read the report.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called for full support of the disarmament of Kurdish militants that began with a handover of the first batch of weapons by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) forces, a step he said opened a new page for the country.

Thirty PKK militants burned their weapons at the mouth of a cave in northern Iraq on Friday, marking a symbolic but significant step toward ending a decades-long insurgency against Turkey.

“As of yesterday, the scourge of terrorism has entered the process of ending. Today is a new day; a new page has opened in history. Today, the doors of a great, powerful Turkey have been flung wide open,” Erdogan told members of his AK Party in Ankara, Reuters reported.

He said the recent steps have united the nation, and now the parliament will play a critical role in setting up a legal framework for completing the disarmament process.

“I hope that our parliament will support this process with the broadest possible participation,” Erdogan said.

Ankara has taken steps toward forming a parliamentary commission that will oversee the disarmament and PKK’s transition into democratic politics.

The PKK, locked in conflict with the Turkish state and outlawed since 1984, decided in May to disband, disarm and end its separatist struggle after a public call to do so from its long-imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan.

After a series of failed peace efforts, the new initiative could pave the way for Ankara to end an insurgency that has killed over 40,000 people, burdened the economy and wrought deep social and political divisions in Turkey and the wider region.