Delegations from Iran, the European Union and France, Britain and Germany have arrived at the Iranian consulate in Istanbul for nuclear talks.
The Istanbul meeting was the first since Israeli and US strikes on Iran that targeted key nuclear and military sites.
According to Reuters, Iran has rejected proposals to extend a UN resolution ratifying the 2015 nuclear agreement.
European countries, along with China and Russia, are parties to the 2015 agreement, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbing its nuclear programme. The deadline is 18 October, when the resolution governing the agreement expires.
Diplomats say they want Iran to take concrete steps to persuade them to extend the deadline to six months. Iran will need to commit to key issues, including upcoming talks with Washington, full co-operation with the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and reporting on 400kg of highly enriched uranium, the whereabouts of which have been unknown since last month’s strikes.
Minutes before the talks began, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told the state-run IRNA news agency that Iran considers talk of extending UN Security Council Resolution 2231 “meaningless and baseless”. He said the meeting would be “a test of realism for the Europeans and a valuable opportunity to correct their views on Iran’s nuclear issue.”
The European powers known as the E3 – France, Britain and Germany – are threatening to launch a “rapid restoration mechanism” that would reinstate UN sanctions against Iran by the end of August.
“Inaction by the E3 is not an option,” a European source told AFP, noting that Tehran would be reminded during the meeting that the rapid return window closes within months.
The source said the Europeans were preparing to activate the mechanism “in the absence of a negotiated solution”.
IAEA Chairman Rafael Grossi is optimistic that nuclear inspection visits could be resumed this year and that it is important to discuss technical details now.
“We need to agree on where to go, how to do it. We need to listen to Iran on what precautions they think should be taken,” he told reporters in Singapore.
The United States held five rounds of talks with Iran before its airstrikes in June, which US President Donald Trump said had “destroyed” Iran’s programme to obtain a nuclear bomb.
Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons and says its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only.