Countdown to Diplomacy: Iran’s Nuclear Talks with E3 on the Horizon

BERLIN (AFP) — European powers are planning fresh talks with Iran on its nuclear program in the coming days, marking the first discussions since the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago, a German diplomatic source told Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

The source stated that Britain, France, and Germany, known collectively as the E3, are in contact with Iran to schedule further talks for the upcoming week.

The trio recently cautioned that international sanctions against Iran could be reinstated if Tehran fails to return to the negotiating table.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported that Tehran had agreed to hold talks with the three European countries, citing an unnamed source.

According to the report, consultations are ongoing regarding the date and location for the talks.

The German source emphasized that Iran must never be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon.

This is why Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are continuing to work intensively within the E3 framework to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program, the source added.

Israel and Western nations have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, an allegation Tehran has consistently denied.

On June 13, Israel launched a series of surprise strikes against its regional adversary, targeting key military and nuclear facilities.

The United States conducted its own strikes against Iran’s nuclear program on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.

Prior to Israel’s 12-day war against Iran, Tehran and Washington had engaged in several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators.

However, President Donald Trump’s decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively terminated these talks.

The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 — just one day before the U.S. strikes.

In a related development on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held an unexpected meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader on nuclear issues.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that during the unannounced meeting, Larijani conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and surrounding the Iranian nuclear program.

Peskov added that Putin expressed Russia’s well-known positions on stabilizing the regional situation and achieving a political settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue.

While Moscow maintains a cordial relationship with Iran’s clerical leadership and provides crucial support for Tehran, it has not forcefully backed its partner even after the U.S. joined Israel’s bombing campaign.

In 2015, Iran and world powers struck a deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which placed significant restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

However, the hard-won agreement began to unravel in 2018, during Trump’s first term, when the United States withdrew from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

In recent days, European countries have threatened to trigger the deal’s snapback mechanism, which allows for the reimposition of sanctions if Iran fails to comply with the agreement.

Following a call with his European counterparts on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that the Western allies had “absolutely no moral or legal grounds” for reactivating the snapback sanctions.

Araghchi elaborated in a social media post on Sunday, saying, “Through their actions and statements, including providing political and material support to the recent unprovoked and illegal military aggression of the Israeli regime and the U.S. … the E3 have relinquished their role as ‘Participants’ in the JCPOA.”

He added that this rendered any attempt to reinstate the terminated UN Security Council resolutions null and void. “Iran has shown that it is capable of defeating any delusional ‘dirty work’ but has always been prepared to reciprocate meaningful diplomacy in good faith,” Araghchi wrote.

However, the German source stated on Sunday that if no solution is reached over the summer, snapback remains an option for the E3.

Ali Velayati, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asserted that there would be no new nuclear talks with the U.S. if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities.