Iran rejected the suggestions of extending a resolution of the United Nations (UN) that ratifies a nuclear agreement of 2015, starting the first conversations face to face with Western powers since Israel and the US bombed the country last month.
Iran, European Union and the so -called E3 Group, formed by France, the United Kingdom and Germany, arrived at the Iranian consulate in Istanbul for conversations that, according to the United Nations Nuclear Surveillance agency, could make room for the resumption of inspections.
European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parts of a 2015 agreement – from which the US withdrawn in 2018 – which suspended sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
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The deadline of 18 October, in which the resolution governing this agreement expires, is quickly approaching.
At this point, all UN sanctions against Iran will be suspended unless a snapback mechanism is triggered at least 30 days earlier. This would automatically rejoin these sanctions, which targets sectors ranging from hydrocarbons to banks and defense.
To give time to happen, E3 set a deadline by the end of August to revive diplomacy. Diplomats say they want Iran to take concrete measures to convince them to extend the deadline within six months.
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Iran would need to commit to fundamental issues, including eventual talks with Washington, total cooperation with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA), and the 400kg of uranium -enriched uranium with a degree of purity close to that of weapons, whose whereabouts are unknown since last month’s attacks.
Minutes before the conversations, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Ministry spokesman Sobraeil Baghaei told the state news agency Iran that Iran considers “meaningless and unfounded” the discussion about the extension of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA), Rafael Grossi, said he is optimistic about the possibility of restarting nuclear inspection visits this year and that it is important to discuss the technical details now.
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“We need to reach an agreement on where to go and how to do it. We need to hear Iran in terms of what they consider to be the precautions to be taken,” he told Singapore reporters.
The United States has conducted five rounds of negotiations with Iran before their air attacks in June that US President Donald Trump said he had “obliterated” a program that Washington and his ally Israel say they aim to acquire a nuclear bomb.
However, NBC News cited current and former US employees saying that a later assessment found that the attacks have destroyed most of one of the three aimed nuclear facilities, but that the other two were not so damaged.
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Iran denies the search for a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear program is intended exclusively for civil purposes.
European and Iranian diplomats say that for now there is no prospect of Iran to get involved with the US at the negotiating table.
(Daleage of Aligage Kingor, John, Janor of Cuum of Yuh Yuora)
