302
Iran will resume nuclear talks with Britain, France, and Germany in Istanbul on Friday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday. The meeting, at the level of deputy foreign ministers, comes after a renewed threat from the three European countries, the E3, of reimposing international sanctions if talks are stalled.
The negotiations are in the aftermath of increased tensions after last month’s Israeli and American attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. It is also the first official meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the E3, along with the European Union foreign policy chief, following those strikes.
Britain, France, and Germany, as well as China and Russia, are still parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. The United States left the accord in 2018, reimposing sanctions on Tehran. Iran, under the deal, was to limit its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
The E3 have made a deadline, threatening that if negotiations with Iran do not restart or bring progress by the end of August, they will invoke the UN “snapback mechanism” a clause enabling the rapid reimposition of sanctions.
Araqchi rebuked the European strategy, labeling the snapback threats both legally and morally unwarranted. He called on the E3 to drop “deteriorated policies of threat and pressure.”
Before the Israel-Iran war, Tehran and Washington had conducted five rounds of indirect nuclear negotiations, brokered by Oman. Yet, substantial differences mostly on the level of enrichment of Iranian uranium halted any break-through. The West wants Iran’s enrichment capability reduced to zero in order to avoid possible weaponization, but Tehran affirms its nuclear project is purely civilian in nature.
The snapback mechanism needs to be invoked prior to the expiration on October 18 of the present UN resolution endorsing the 2015 agreement.
