GENEVA (AN) — Iran and the so-called E3 – Britain and France, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany – met in an undisclosed location in Geneva for a round of nuclear talks ahead of former U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House.
The meeting on Friday provided "another round of candid discussions" among the four countries' political directors, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said.
"We discussed and took stock of recent bilateral, regional and international developments, particularly nuclear and sanctions lifting issues," he said. "We are firmly committed to pursue the interests of our people, and our preference is the path of dialogue and engagement. It was agreed to continue diplomatic dialogue in near future."
The meeting's undisclosed location reflected the sensitivity of the discussions over Iran's expanding nuclear program and its military support for Russia, along with the regional tensions and war in the Middle East.
A week earlier, the 35-member board of governors of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, approved a resolution to censure Iran and prepare a comprehensive, updated assessment on Iran’s nuclear program.
That could lead to a referral to the 15-nation Security Council, where China, Russia and the U.S. hold the other three permanent seats. It has the power to trigged a so-called “snapback” mechanism for reinstating U.N. sanctions that were lifted under the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
Iran responded to the resolution by announcing it will enrich uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its nuclear facilities in Fordo and Natanz, but the Vienna-based IAEA said Iran would be enriching uranium to 5% purity – not its usual 60% percent.
Candid discussions with the E.U.
The move could signal that Iran still hopes it can negotiate with the incoming Trump administration, which holds the power to scuttle any Iran-European deal with the threat of U.S. sanctions and a cutoff from the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, messaging system that allows large financial institutions to send money to each other.
Under the JCPO, Iran was limited to enriching uranium to 3.67%, enough to fuel a commercial nuclear power plant. Iran signed it with the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany and the European Union.
After Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and imposed economic sanctions on Tehran, the nation expanded its nuclear program. U.S. President Joe Biden's administration did not have the U.S. re-enter the deal.
It's not clear how Trump will deal with Iran a second time around as nuclear-equipped Israel wages war against Hamas in Gaza. U.S. intelligence agencies and others have assessed that Iran, which is a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, has not yet built nuclear weapons.
The European Union's deputy foreign policy chief Enrique Mora said he had a "frank exchange" with Gharibabadi and Iran's Majid Takht Ravanchi, another deputy foreign minister.
Their discussion covered "Iran’s military support to Russia that has to stop, the nuclear issue that needs a diplomatic solution, regional tensions (important to avoid further escalation from all sides) and human rights," Mora said.
