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02-01-2025
TEHRAN: The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and France, the United Kingdom and Germany will take place in Geneva in January, Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency reports, citing the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.
“The new round of talks between Iran and three European countries will be held in Geneva on January 13,” Gharibabadi said on Wednesday.
Iran held talks with the three European powers about its disputed nuclear programme in November. Those discussions, the first since the presidential election in the United States, came after Tehran was angered by a Europe-backed resolution that accused Iran of poor cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
Tehran reacted to the resolution by informing the IAEA watchdog that it plans to install more uranium-enriching centrifuges at its enrichment plants.
On December 17, the three European countries accused Iran of growing its stockpile of high-enriched uranium to “unprecedented levels” without “any credible civilian justification”. They have also raised the possibility of restoring sanctions against Iran to keep it from developing its nuclear programme.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters news agency in December that Iran is “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60 percent purity, closer to the roughly 90 percent level that is weapons grade.
Tehran insists on its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and has consistently denied any ambition of developing nuclear weapons capability.
In 2015, Iran reached an agreement with world powers, including the US, to curb its nuclear programme due to concerns about the country potentially developing nuclear weapons but in 2018, the then administration of Donald Trump exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to violate the pact’s nuclear limits, with moves such as rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.
Indirect talks between US President Joe Biden’s administration and Tehran to try to revive the pact have failed, but Trump said during his election campaign in September: “We have to make a deal, because the consequences are impossible. We have to make a deal.”
The January 13 talks will take place one week before Trump’s return to the White House. Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it plans to install more than 6,000 new centrifuges to enrich uranium, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said.
The report came as Iran prepared to hold talks with Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Friday over its nuclear programme. Both sides agreed to continue diplomatic dialogue after the talks.
By also bringing more centrifuges already in place online, the confidential report outlined what Iran meant following a censure by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed last week at the request of Britain, France, Germany and the United States.
Iran had previously agreed to a demand by the UN agency to cap its stock of high-enriched uranium up to only 60 percent purity, well below the weapons-grade enriched level of 90 percent needed for a bomb.
According to the IAEA, Iran also intends to install 18 extra cascades of IR-4 centrifuges at that Natanz plant, each with 166 machines, the greater capacity meaning that it can enrich uranium at a faster pace, potentially increasing the risk of nuclear proliferation. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
