Iran has rejected the European Union’s offer to hold direct nuclear talks with the United States, top diplomats say, risking further tensions between Tehran and Western capitals.
Two senior Western diplomats said Iran has ruled out attending a meeting in Europe for now, saying it wanted to ensure first that the US would lift some sanctions after the meeting.
The United States had said it would attend the talks, which the EU hoped to host in the coming days. However, Washington had refused to provide relief from sanctions before face-to-face negotiations with Iran had taken place.
Diplomats said Iran’s rejection did not end all hopes of direct negotiations in the coming months and that Tehran’s move could be an attempt to gain leverage in future talks. These talks could still begin before the Iranian New Year in late March.
Still, Iran’s move is likely to exacerbate tensions in the coming days.
A State Department spokesman did not respond to any requests for comment.
At stake are the EU’s efforts to reactivate the 2015 nuclear deal from which the Trump administration withdrew and whose boundaries Iran has subsequently breached. Both the Biden administration and Iran say they want to re-establish the deal, but both sides have been hampered by a debate over what should happen first.
As this dispute has faded, France, the United Kingdom and Germany are working on a resolution they plan to present to the council of the International Atomic Energy Agency next week that would censure Iran for its recent steps to expand their nuclear activities and their lack of cooperation. with the agency’s investigation into its nuclear work.
Iran has warned that if the censorship measure continues, it could end an agreement reached earlier this month with the IAEA that would allow most international inspections to continue. Iran had previously said it would significantly reduce inspectors’ access to its nuclear activities, but reduced that measure after IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi visited Tehran.
If Iran continues this threat, it would significantly reduce international oversight of Iranian nuclear work, a situation Grossi has said will hamper the agency’s ability to keep Iran’s nuclear program under control.
The Biden administration has said it wants to return to the nuclear deal, but will not suspend its sanctions against Iran until Tehran reverses the multiple measures it has taken to breach the 2015 nuclear deal.
European diplomats had warned that if Iran moved away from the talks, which the EU hoped to hold for next week, it could leave Tehran more diplomatically isolated. A senior European diplomat said, however, that Iran feared going home empty-handed at a meeting with the US, which could have provoked a major backlash in Iran.
Write to Laurence Norman at [email protected] and Michael R. Gordon at [email protected]
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