DUBAI (Reuters) – The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and three European countries will take place on January 13 in Geneva, Iran’s semi-official news agency ISNA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as saying on Wednesday.
Iran held talks on its controversial nuclear program with Britain, France and Germany in November 2024.
The discussions, the first since the US election, came after Tehran was angered by a European-backed resolution accusing Iran of poor cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Tehran responded to the resolution by informing the IAEA watchdog that it plans to install more uranium-enriching centrifuges at its enrichment plants.
The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, told Reuters in December that Iran is “dramatically” accelerating its uranium enrichment to a purity of 60%, closer to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level. Tehran denies pursuing nuclear weapons and says its program is peaceful.
In 2018, the then-administration of Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 Iranian nuclear pact with six superpowers and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to violate the pact’s nuclear limits, with measures such as rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium and refining it to a higher fissile purity. and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up production.
Indirect talks between US President Joe Biden’s administration and Tehran 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.” .
