Nuclear dispute: Iran: New round of talks with EU countries

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has announced a new round of talks with EU countries. Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Germany, France and Great Britain are scheduled to meet in Geneva next Friday, said Foreign Office spokesman Ismail Baghai, according to Iranian media reports. There was initially no confirmation of this from anyone else.

According to Baghai, the round on November 29th will build on discussions that were held on the sidelines of the last UN General Assembly at the end of September. The aim is to talk about the war in the Middle East and the nuclear program.

The dispute over Iran’s nuclear program had recently come to a head. After formal criticism from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Tehran threatened to put thousands of new centrifuges into operation to enrich uranium. Iran is currently enriching uranium to a purity of 60 percent; experts say more than 90 percent is needed for nuclear weapons.

According to Iran’s government, the nuclear program is only used for civilian purposes. The then US President Donald Trump unilaterally terminated the Vienna nuclear pact, which was intended to restrict Iran’s program and in return relax sanctions, in 2018. Since then, the Islamic Republic has no longer strictly adhered to the requirements. Talks to revive a nuclear deal have been on hold for years.