France, Britain and Germany will hold face-to-face talks with Iran today for the first time since US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June, aiming to gauge Tehran’s appetite for a compromise to avert sanctions, diplomats say.
The three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 deal – from which the US withdrew in 2018 – that lifted sanctions on Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme.
Today’s talks between senior diplomats from the so-called E3 group and Iran’s negotiating team will be held in Istanbul.
The US held five rounds of talks with Iran prior to its air strikes in June, which US President Donald Trump, said had ‘obliterated’ a programme that Washington and its ally Israel say is aimed at acquiring a nuclear bomb. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.
European and Iranian diplomats say there is no prospect of Iran re-engaging with the US at the negotiating table for now.
But the Europeans say negotiations must be revived due to a halt in inspections of nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and as an October 18 deadline for the expiration of the 2015 deal draws closer.
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