Tehran, E3 confer Iran’s nuclear talks with US
Iran, troika determined to make optimal use of diplomacy: Gharibabadi
Iran met with European powers on Friday to discuss its ongoing negotiations with the United States, which are aimed at settling a decades-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who attended the talks in the Turkish city, said in a post on X: “We exchanged views and discussed the latest status of the indirect nuclear negotiations (with the US) and the lifting of sanctions.”
Gharibabadi said, if necessary, Tehran would meet again with Germany, Britain and France – the European parties to the 2015 deal along with China, Russia and the United States – to continue discussions, after several meetings since last year.
He added that, “Iran and the three European countries are determined to sustain and make optimal use of diplomacy”.
The European nations – known as the E3 – were among the world powers that negotiated the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal along with China, Russia and the United States.
US President Donald Trump, in his first term as president, torpedoed the accord in 2018 by unilaterally withdrawing the United States.
A year later, Iran responded by rolling back its own commitments under the deal, which provided relief from sanctions in return for UN-monitored restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.
Following the US withdrawal from the deal, relations between Iran and Europe began to deteriorate due to the Europe’s failure to fulfill its commitments under the agreement and opted to follow in the footsteps of the US.
Now, the three European powers are weighing whether to trigger the 2015 deal’s “snapback” mechanism, which would reinstate UN sanctions in response to what they call Iranian non-compliance – an option that expires in October.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an article published by the French weekly Le Point, warned of “irreversible” consequences if Britain, France and Germany move to reimpose United Nations sanctions.
Such a stance “risks provoking a global nuclear proliferation crisis that would primarily affect Europeans themselves”, Iran’s top diplomat warned.
“While we continue the dialogue with the United States, we are also ready to talk with the Europeans,” Araghchi said.