KEY POINTS
- Britain, France and Germany plan to restart stalled nuclear talks with Iran.
- The move follows the reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran effective from Sep 28.
- Iran says it has “no plans” to immediately resume talks after renewed sanctions.
LONDON: Britain, France and Germany will seek to restart stalled nuclear talks with Iran and the United States, the three European countries said in a joint statement on Friday.
Their announcement came nearly two weeks after UN sanctions were reimposed on Iran, under a “snapback” process that the three European nations had initiated and which became effective from September 28.
Iran has said that, following those revived sanctions, it would not immediately resume nuclear talks.
In their joint statement, Britain, France, and Germany said: “We are determined to reinitiate negotiations with Iran and the United States towards a comprehensive, durable and verifiable agreement that ensures Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.”
On Monday, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, said that “we have no plans for negotiations at this stage”.
He added that Iran was examining the “consequences and implications” of the restart of sanctions.
“Of course, diplomacy — in the sense of maintaining contacts and consultations — will continue,” Baqaei said.
“Whenever we feel that diplomacy can be effective, we will certainly make decisions based on the country’s interests and priorities,” he added.
Western countries, spearheaded by the United States and joined by Israel, accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons — a charge Tehran has long denied. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes and that the Islamic Republic never intends to acquire nuclear weapons.
The United States, on June 22, bombed nuclear sites in Iran, joining an Israeli air campaign against various targets in the country.
France, Germany, and Britain — known as the E3 in the context of negotiations with Iran — said in Friday’s statement that “it was right that the snapback mechanism had been triggered”.
In 2015, the United States, along with the three European countries, Russia, and China, concluded an agreement with Iran providing for the regulation of Iranian nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
However, in 2018, President Donald Trump, during his first term, unilaterally decided to withdraw the United States from the deal and to reinstate US sanctions.
