European ministers to hold nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva

The ministers will first meet with the European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, at Germany's permanent mission in Geneva before holding a joint meeting with the Iranian foreign minister. Keystone-SDA / Salvatore Di Nolfi

Foreign ministers from Germany, France and the United Kingdom are planning a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday in Geneva, according to various media reports .

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The ministers will first meet with the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, at Germany’s permanent mission in Geneva before holding a joint meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, a source told Reuters news agency.

The United States and Iran had held negotiations on the country’s nuclear programme for almost two months under the mediation of the Gulf emirate of Oman before Israel launched its major attack on Iran last Friday. Iran responded with intensive rocket fire.

Negotiations recently stalled over the central issue of uranium enrichment. Iran had recently enriched almost weapons-grade material. Although Tehran expressed its willingness to restrict its programme again, as in the Vienna nuclear agreement of 2015, it did not want to give up its ability to enrich uranium.

US President Donald Trump repeated a demand for “unconditional surrender” on Wednesday, but did not completely rule out further negotiations. Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Vienna nuclear agreement in 2018. Tehran then also no longer complied with the conditions.

War continues unabated

At a meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Aiman al-Safadi in Berlin on Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced that he had made Araghchi a negotiation offer together with his French colleague Jean-Noël Barrot, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas during a telephone call on Monday.

They are still prepared to negotiate a solution. However, Tehran would have to move urgently and “take confidence-building and verifiable measures, for example by making it credible that the leadership in Tehran is not seeking nuclear weapons”. He added: “It is never too late to come to the negotiating table if you come with honest intentions.”

Meanwhile, the war between Israel and Iran continues unabated. Observers had recently expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear dispute with Iran. Israel justified its war with the “existential threat” posed by the Iranian nuclear and missile program.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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