TEHRAN: European powers plan fresh talks with Iran on its nuclear programme in the coming days, the first since the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago, a German diplomatic source told.
Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, “are in contact with Iran to schedule further talks for the coming week”, the source said.
The trio had recently warned that international sanctions against Iran could be reactivated if Tehran does not 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.
Consultations are ongoing regarding a date and location for the talks, the report said.
“Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon,” the German source said.
“That is why Germany, France and the United Kingdom are continuing to work intensively in the E3 format to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear programme,” the source added.
Israel and Western nations have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.
On June 13, Israel launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, targeting key military and nuclear facilities.
The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran’s nuclear programme 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.Iran and the United States had held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war against Iran. However, US President Donald Trump’s decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks.
The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 — just one day before the US strikes. Also Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader on nuclear issues.
Larijani “conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear programme”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting.
