Iran to hold nuclear talks with European nations in Turkey after Israel ceasefire

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TEHRAN — Iran said Monday it would hold renewed talks this week with European nations over the country’s nuclear program, with discussions to be hosted by Turkey.

The talks, to be held in Istanbul on Friday, will be the first since a ceasefire was reached after a 12-day war waged by Israel against Iran in June, which also saw the United States strike nuclear-related facilities in the Islamic Republic. A similar meeting had been held in the Turkish city in May.

The discussions will bring Iranian officials together with officials from Britain, France and Germany — known as the E3 nations — and will include the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.

“The topic of the talks is clear, lifting sanctions and issues related to the peaceful nuclear program of Iran,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in his weekly briefing. He said the meeting will be held at the deputy ministerial level.

Under a 2015 deal designed to cap Iran’s nuclear activities, Iran agreed to tough restrictions on its international program in exchange for an easing of sanctions. The deal began to unravel in 2018, when the United States pulled out of it and began to reimpose certain sanctions. European countries have recently threatened to trigger the 2015 deal’s “snapback” mechanism, which would allow sanctions to be reimposed in the case of noncompliance by Tehran.

German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Martin Giese, asked who Germany will send to the talks and what its expectations are, said that “the talks are taking place at expert level.

“Iran must never come into possession of a nuclear weapon,” so Germany, France and Britain are “continuing to work … at high pressure on a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program,” Giese told reporters in Berlin. “This course of action is also co-ordinated with the U.S.”

“It’s very clear that, should no solution be reached by the end of August … snapback remains an option for the E3.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday the three European nations lack “any legal, political, and moral standing” to invoke such mechanisms, and accused Britain, France and Germany of failing to uphold their commitments in the deal.

“Attempting to trigger ‘snapback’ under these circumstances, in defiance of established facts and prior communications, constitutes an abuse of process that the international community must reject,” Araghchi said.

He also criticized the three European nations for “providing political and material support to the recent unprovoked and illegal military aggression of the Israeli regime and the U.S.”

The U.S. bombed three major Iranian nuclear sites in Iran in June as Israel waged an air war with Iran. Nearly 1,100 people were killed in Iran, including many military commanders and nuclear scientists, while 28 were killed in Israel.

Araghchi stressed in the letter that his country is ready for diplomatic solutions.

After U.S. President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 deal, Iran has gradually increased its nuclear activities, including enriching uranium up to 60%, a step away from weapons-grade nuclear materials, or 90% enrichment of uranium.

Iran denies allegations it is seeking a nuclear weapon and has long said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

The report every six months to the UN Security Council on implementation of its 2015 resolution endorsing the nuclear deal, circulated Monday, quoted a June 9 letter from the E3 welcoming negotiations between Iran and the United States.

The U.K., Britain and Germany said they would pursue all diplomatic options “to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.” But without “a satisfying deal,” they would consider triggering snapback “to address threats to international peace and security arising from Iran’s nuclear program.”

Iran’s UN ambassador responded on June 11 categorically rejecting the E3’s allegations and its threat to trigger snapback, saying the Islamic republic had seriously engaged with the Europeans and the United States and “remains committed to finding a negotiated solution that addresses concerns, both pertaining to the nuclear matters and the sanctions.”

The exchanges were in a letter to the council from Slovenia’s UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar who overseas matters dealing with the resolution. It quoted the International Atomic Energy Agency as estimating that as of May 17, Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% at 408.6 kg, an increase of 133.8 kg from its February report. That was not long before the Israeli and U.S. bombings of Iranian nuclear sites.

— Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.