Iran is set to hold talks with Britain, France and Germany in Turkey on Friday, after US President Donald Trump said a nuclear deal with Tehran was “getting close”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Istanbul meeting follows Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s warning of “irreversible” consequences if the European powers move to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran that were lifted under a 2015 deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The so-called E3 were parties to that agreement along with China, Russia and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Trump effectively torpedoed the deal during his first term in 2018, by unilaterally abandoning it and reimposing sanctions on Iran’s banking sector and oil exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A year later, Iran responded by rolling back its own commitments under the deal, which provided relief from sanctions in return for UN-monitored restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three European powers have been weighing whether to trigger the 2015 deal’s “snapback” mechanism, which would reinstate UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance — an option that expires in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such a stance “risks provoking a global nuclear proliferation crisis that would primarily affect Europeans themselves, Iran’s top diplomat warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, writing in the French weekly Le Point, he also noted that Tehran was “ready to turn the page” in its relations with Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friday’s meeting with the European powers comes less than a week after a fourth round of Iran-US nuclear talks which Tehran called “difficult but useful”, and after which a US official said Washington was “encouraged”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Araghchi said Friday’s talks will be at deputy foreign ministers level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking on a visit to Qatar Thursday, Trump said the United States was “getting close” to a deal with Iran that would avert military action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Oman-mediated Iran-US talks were the highest-level contact between the two foes since Washington abandoned the nuclear accord in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since returning to office, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” policy on Tehran, backing nuclear diplomacy but warning of military action if it fails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday, US news website Axios reported that the Trump administration had given Iran a “written proposal” for a deal during the fourth round of talks on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Araghchi denied the report, saying “we have not been given anything”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added however that “we are ready to build trust and transparency about our nuclear programme in response to the lifting of sanctions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has said he presented Iran’s leadership with an “olive branch”, adding that it was an offer that would not last for ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further threatened to impose “massive maximum pressure”, including driving Iranian oil exports to zero if talks failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit set in the 2015 deal but below the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tehran insists its right to continue enriching uranium for peaceful purposes is “non-negotiable” but says it would be open to temporary restrictions on how much uranium it enriches and to what level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, Iran’s atomic energy agency chief Mohammad Eslami reiterated that Tehran “does not seek nuclear militarisation”, adding that enrichment was under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The dismantling of enrichment is not accepted by Iran,” he stressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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