TEHRAN
\nIran, Britain, France and Germany could hold talks next week on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme, Iran\u2019s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, following warnings by the three European countries that failure to resume negotiations would lead to international sanctions being reimposed on Iran.
\n\u201cThe principle of talks has been agreed upon, but consultations are continuing on the time and place of the talks. The country in which the talks could be held next week has not been finalised,\u201d Tasnim reported, quoting a source informed on the matter.
\nThe report on possible talks comes a few days after the foreign ministers of the so-called E3 nations, as well as the European Union\u2019s foreign policy chief, held their first call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi since Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago.
\nThe three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran \u2014 from which the United States withdrew in 2018 \u2014 that lifted sanctions on the Middle Eastern country in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme.
\nThe E3 have said they would restore UN sanctions on Tehran via the so-called \u201csnapback mechanism\u201d by the end of August if nuclear talks that were ongoing between Iran and the US before the Israel-Iran air war do not resume or fail to produce concrete results.
\n\u201cIf EU\/E3 want to have a role, they should act responsibly, and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the \u2018snap-back\u2019 for which they lack absolutely [any] moral and legal ground,\u201d Araqchi said earlier this week.
\nThe snapback mechanism can be used to restore UN sanctions before the UN Security Council resolution enshrining the deal expires on October 18.
\nBefore the Israel-Iran war, Tehran and Washington held five rounds of nuclear talks mediated by Oman but faced major stumbling blocks such as uranium enrichment in Iran, which Western powers want to bring down to zero to minimise any risk of weaponisation.
\nTehran maintains that its nuclear programme is solely meant for civilian purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN Iran, Britain, France and Germany could hold talks next week on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme, Iran\u2019s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, following warnings by the three European countries that failure to resume negotiations would lead to international sanctions being reimposed on Iran. \u201cThe principle of talks has been agreed upon, but consultations are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-491552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n