TEHRAN: Iran said on Sunday that it would hold nuclear talks in the coming days with the three European countries that initiated a censure resolution against it adopted by the UN’s atomic watchdog.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom would take place on Friday, without specifying a venue.
“A range of regional and international issues and topics, including the issues of Palestine and Lebanon, as well as the nuclear issue, will be discussed,” the spokesman said in a foreign ministry statement as reported by the official IRNA news agency.
Baghaei described the upcoming meeting as a continuation of talks held with the countries in September on the sidelines of the annual session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“In this round of talks, which were planned in New York, a range of regional and international issues, including Palestine and Lebanon, as well as nuclear issues, will be discussed,” IRNA quoted the spokesman as saying.
Additionally, Japan’s Kyodo News cited Iranian diplomatic sources as saying that Iran will hold nuclear talks with the UK, France, Germany, and the European Union on November 29, aimed at exploring ways to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
On Thursday, the 35-nation board of governors of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution denouncing Iran for what it called a lack of cooperation.
The move came as tensions ran high over Iran’s atomic program.
In response to the resolution, Iran announced it was launching a “series of new and advanced centrifuges”.
Centrifuges enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235).
“We will substantially increase the enrichment capacity with the utilisation of different types of advanced machines,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran’s atomic energy organisation spokesman, told state TV.
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The country, however, also said it planned to continue its “technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA”.
During a recent visit to Tehran by IAEA head Rafael Grossi, Iran agreed to the agency’s demand to cap its stock of uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in power since July and a supporter of dialogue with Western countries, has said he wants to remove “doubts and ambiguities” about his country’s nuclear programme.
In 2015, Iran and world powers reached an agreement that saw the easing of international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
But the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed biting economic sanctions.
On Sunday afternoon, the United Kingdom confirmed the upcoming meeting between Iran and the three European countries.
“We remain committed to taking every diplomatic step to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, including through snapback if necessary,” London’s Foreign Office said.
