GENEVA
\nEuropean and Iranian officials made little progress in meetings on Friday on whether they could engage in serious talks, including over Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, diplomats said.
\nThe meetings in Geneva, the first since this month\u2019s US election, come after Tehran was angered by a European-backed resolution last week that criticised Iran for poor cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
\n\u201cAnother round of candid discussions with political directors of France, Germany and United Kingdom,\u201d Iran\u2019s former ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said on X.
\n\u201cIt was agreed to continue diplomatic dialogue in near future.\u201d
\nTrump, who after pulling the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers pursued a \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d policy that sought to wreck Iran\u2019s economy, is staffing his new administration with noted hawks on Iran.<\/p>\n
A European official said there had been nothing of note in the meeting, but that Tehran had shown an eagerness to explore how diplomacy could work in next few weeks.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s deputy foreign minister and senior nuclear negotiator Majid Takhtravanchi met the EU\u2019s coordinator Enrique Mora on Thursday evening before holding talks on Friday with the European diplomats, known as the E3.
\nWhile Trump\u2019s return to power leaves many questions open, four Euro\u00adpean diplomats said the E3 countries \u2014 the European parties to the 2015 accord \u2014 felt it was vital to engage now because time was running out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GENEVA European and Iranian officials made little progress in meetings on Friday on whether they could engage in serious talks, including over Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, diplomats said. The meetings in Geneva, the first since this month\u2019s US election, come after Tehran was angered by a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446670,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-446660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n