Iran: Nuclear Program Talks with European Countries to Resume Tuesday in Geneva
Iran will resume Tuesday in Geneva talks on its nuclear program with France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, three countries party to the 2015 agreement that limited Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief, state television announced.
“This new round of negotiations,” following a previous meeting held in July in Istanbul, will take place “at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Geneva,” according to state television. Iran will be represented by Deputy FM Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Tasnim news agency reported.
France, the UK, and Germany — alongside China, Russia, and the United States — reached the 2015 accord with Iran, which imposed significant restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for the gradual lifting of UN sanctions. The deal collapsed after Washington’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 under former President Donald Trump.
The European trio has threatened to reinstate UN sanctions against Iran if no negotiated solution is reached by the end of August. Tehran, however, disputes the legitimacy of the Europeans invoking the “snapback” clause of the 2015 agreement.
When the US withdrew, Paris, London, and Berlin reaffirmed their commitment to the deal, pledging to maintain trade with Tehran. However, their mechanism to counter American sanctions largely failed, forcing many Western companies to leave Iran, which continues to grapple with severe inflation and a deep economic crisis.
(APS)
