Iran and European Powers Will Have Nuclear Talks After Threatening to Reimpose Sanctions
Iran is to return to nuclear negotiations with European nations in Istanbul after the UN threatened to impose more sanctions.
Iranian nuclear negotiations with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are set to begin Friday in Istanbul in an effort to save the 2015 nuclear agreement and prevent the application of new international sanctions.
Only one month has passed since a joint Israeli-American attack on Iranian nuclear facilities escalated regional tensions, yet the discussion will be held at the deputy foreign minister level. The talks come after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the foreign ministers of the E3 (the three European countries) and the head of the European Union’s foreign policy held a high-level call Thursday.
The location and format of the discussions were confirmed by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei through state media.
Despite the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018, the E3 nations, China, and Russia are still signatories to the agreement. Iran was granted tight restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions under that historic agreement.
Since Israel’s military assaults on Iran last month, which are said to have killed hundreds of civilians and senior Iranian officials and nuclear scientists, tensions have sharply increased. While formally denying any involvement in Israel’s activities, the United States also launched independent strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, declaring them “obliterated.”
Iran then stopped all direct negotiations with the US and accused Washington of collaboration. The two nations had finished five rounds of nuclear talks mediated by Oman before to the battle, but they were still at differences over important topics including Iran’s uranium enrichment levels, which Western powers want to be brought down to almost zero in order to remove the possibility of the development of nuclear weapons.
But Iran is adamant that its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes.
Referring to the E3’s recent threats, Araghchi stated last week that “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 absolutely lack moral and legal ground.”
Through the snap-back mechanism built into the JCPOA, the E3 has given Iran till the end of August to resume talks or risk having its UN sanctions reinstated.
