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26-11-2024
TEHRAN: Iran says it will hold nuclear talks with officials from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom this week, amid escalating tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.
The meeting, which is set to happen on Friday, was announced by the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday, and UK officials also confirmed the meeting.
“A range of regional and international issues, including the issues of Palestine and Lebanon, as well as the nuclear issue, will be discussed,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.
Neither London nor Tehran said where the meeting would take place.
On Thursday, the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution denouncing Iran for what it called a lack of cooperation. The three European Union members that will meet with Iranian officials were among those voting for the resolution.
Nineteen countries out of the 35-member IAEA voted to censure Iran, a largely symbolic gesture while 12 countries abstained. Russia, China, and Burkina Faso voted against the resolution. Thursday’s resolution marked the third time the UN had taken such action since 2020.
The move came as tensions ran high over Iran’s nuclear program, which critics fear is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon something Tehran has repeatedly denied.
On Friday, Iran announced a “series of new and advanced centrifuges”, technology that refines enriched uranium into gas. “We will substantially increase the enrichment capacity with the utilization of different types of advanced machines,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran’s atomic energy organization spokesman, told Iranian state TV.
Despite the announcement, Iran said it would continue to cooperate with the IAEA.
“We remain committed to taking every diplomatic step to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, including through snapback if necessary,” the UK’s Foreign Ministry told media.
In 2015, Iran reached an agreement with world powers, including the United States, to curb its nuclear program due to concerns about the country potentially developing nuclear weapons but in 2018, during US President Donald Trump’s first term, the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement and imposed sanctions on Iran – a move that stoked tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Since then, Tehran has scaled back its cooperation with the IAEA, deactivating surveillance devices put in place by the UN. Concurrently, Iran has increased its stockpile of enriched uranium.
Iran has “begun implementation of preparatory measures” to cap its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. According to leaked reports from the IAEA, Iran is close to the 90 percent threshold needed to produce a nuclear warhead.
Iran has warned three European nations against pursuing a new censure resolution against it at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shortly after the head of the watchdog visited Tehran.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned efforts by France, Germany and the United Kingdom to pass their fourth resolution since 2020 during the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s board meetings that start on Wednesday.
“This move by the E3 is in clear confrontation with the positive atmosphere created in engagements between Iran and the IAEA, and will only make the issue more complicated,” Araghchi told his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot in a phone conversation, according to Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Barrot told him that Iran’s “nuclear escalation was very worrying and carried major risks of proliferation”, according to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said the three European powers will continue “efforts to return to negotiations with Iran with a view to a diplomatic solution”. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
