Iran accuses Europeans of not respecting 2015 nuclear deal as fresh talks confirmed

Iran accuses Europeans of not respecting 2015 nuclear deal as fresh talks confirmed
by AFP Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) July 21, 2025

Tehran on Monday accused Britain, France and Germany of failing to respect the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, after they threatened to reimpose sanctions over its atomic programme.

The 2015 deal, reached between Iran and the UN Security Council's permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

But it unravelled when the United States in 2018, during Donald Trump's first term as president, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and reimposed sweeping sanctions.

The Europeans had pledged continued support for the deal, but the mechanism intended to offset US sanctions never materialised effectively and many Western firms were forced to exit Iran, which has since faced a deepening economic crisis.

"The European parties have been at fault and negligent in implementing" the nuclear agreement, said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed country currently enriching uranium to 60 percent -- far beyond the 3.67 percent cap set by the 2015 accord.

That is a short step from the 90 percent required for a nuclear weapon.

In recent weeks, France, Britain and Germany have threatened to trigger the UN snapback mechanism to reimpose sanctions on Tehran, accusing Iran of breaching its nuclear commitments.

Using this clause "is meaningless, unjustifiable and immoral", Baqaei told a news conference, arguing that Iran only began distancing itself from the agreement in response to Western non-compliance.

"Iran's reduction of its commitments was carried out in accordance with the provisions outlined in the agreement," the foreign ministry spokesman added.

Iran confirms fresh nuclear talks with European powers: state media
Berlin (AFP) July 21, 2025 - Iran confirmed fresh talks with European powers to be held on Friday in Istanbul, the country's state media reported, the first since the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago.

Iranian diplomats will meet counterparts from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, after the trio warned that sanctions could be reimposed on Tehran if it does return to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme.

Western nations and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.

"In response to the request of European countries, Iran has agreed to hold a new round of talks," said foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghai, as quoted by state TV on Monday.

The subject of the talks will be Iran's nuclear programme, it added.

A German diplomatic source had told AFP on Sunday the E3 were in contact with Tehran and said "Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon".

"That is why Germany, France and the United Kingdom are continuing to work intensively in the E3 format to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear programme," the source said.

Israel launched on June 13 a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, targeting key military and nuclear facilities.

The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran's nuclear programme on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.

- Kremlin meeting -

Iran and the United States had held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war against Iran.

However, US President Donald Trump's decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks.

The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 -- just one day before the US strikes.

Also Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran's supreme leader on nuclear issues.

Larijani "conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear programme", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting.

Putin had expressed Russia's "well-known positions on how to stabilise the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear programme", he added.

Moscow has a cordial relationship with Iran's clerical leadership and provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even after the United States joined Israel's bombing campaign.

- Snapback mechanism -

Iran and world powers struck a deal in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed significant restrictions on Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

But the hard-won deal began to unravel in 2018, during Trump's first presidency, when the United States walked away from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

European countries have in recent days threatened to trigger the deal's "snapback" mechanism, which allows the reimposition of sanctions in the event of non-compliance by Iran.

After a call with his European counterparts on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Western allies had "absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds" for reactivating the snapback sanctions.

He elaborated in a post to social media Sunday.

"Through their actions and statements, including providing political and material support to the recent unprovoked and illegal military aggression of the Israeli regime and the US... the E3 have relinquished their role as 'Participants' in the JCPOA," said Araghchi.

That made any attempt to reinstate the terminated UN Security Council resolutions "null and void", he added.

"Iran has shown that it is capable of defeating any delusional 'dirty work' but has always been prepared to reciprocate meaningful diplomacy in good faith," Araghchi wrote.

However, the German source said Sunday that "if no solution is reached over the summer, snapback remains an option for the E3".

Ali Velayati, an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last week there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities.