 "Nuclear talks between Iran, three European nations to take place on January 13 amid persisting tensions")
The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and three European nations– UK, France and Germany– will take place on January 13 in Geneva, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Wednesday (January 1), according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
The backdrop of international negotiations
The negotiations with Britain, France, and Germany follow discussions in November 2024 that marked the first talks since the US presidential election.
Those talks came amid heightened tensions after a European-backed resolution accused Tehran of inadequate cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
In response to the resolution, Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it would install additional uranium-enriching centrifuges at its nuclear facilities.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and denies seeking nuclear weapons.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all state matters, has long issued a religious decree, or fatwa, prohibiting atomic weapons.
Last month, Reuters cited UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi as saying that Iran is “dramatically” increasing its enrichment of uranium to as much as 60 per cent purity— approaching the 90 per cent threshold needed for weapons-grade material.
Uncertainty after Trump’s re-election
The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers, designed to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief, has been in jeopardy since 2018.
That year, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement and reimposed stringent sanctions on Iran. Tehran subsequently began violating the deal’s limits, including by enriching uranium to higher levels of purity and installing advanced centrifuges.
Efforts by President Joe Biden’s administration to revive the pact through indirect talks have so far failed.
During his election campaign in September, Trump expressed a willingness to pursue a new agreement if reelected, saying, “We have to make a deal, because the consequences are impossible. We have to make a deal.”
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