Iran is scheduled to resume nuclear talks with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom in Istanbul on Friday, in a bid to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal and avert the reimposition of international sanctions.
The meeting, which will take place at the deputy foreign minister level, comes just a month after a joint Israeli-American assault on Iranian nuclear facilities triggered renewed tensions in the region. The discussions also follow a high-level call held Thursday between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the foreign ministers of the E3 — as the three European nations are known — alongside the European Union’s foreign policy chief.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed the venue and format of the talks via state media.
The E3 countries, along with China and Russia, remain signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), from which the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018. That landmark accord lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for strict limits on its nuclear programme.
Tensions have escalated dramatically since last month’s Israeli military strikes on Iran, which reportedly killed top Iranian officials and nuclear scientists, as well as hundreds of civilians. The United States, while officially distancing itself from Israel’s actions, also carried out separate attacks on three Iranian nuclear sites, claiming they had been “obliterated.”
In the aftermath, Iran accused Washington of complicity and halted all direct talks with the US. Prior to the conflict, the two countries had completed five rounds of nuclear negotiations mediated by Oman, though they remained at odds over key issues such as Iran’s uranium enrichment levels — which Western powers want reduced to near-zero to eliminate the risk of nuclear weapon development.
Iran, however, insists its nuclear activities are strictly for civilian use.
“If the EU/E3 want to have a role, they should act responsibly and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the ‘snap-back’ for which they lack absolutely moral and legal ground,” Araghchi said last week, referring to the E3’s recent warnings.
The E3 have given Iran a deadline of late August to restart negotiations or face the restoration of United Nations sanctions under the snap-back mechanism embedded in the JCPOA.
Melissa Enoch
Follow us on:
