Iran says it has no plans for nuclear talks with E3, slams sanctions push

Tehran has no current plan for nuclear negotiations with the European trio (or E3, the group comprising France, Germany, and Italy), the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has said.

He stressed that Iran is focused on assessing the consequences of recent measures taken by the E3 and the US, Caliber.Az reports per Tasnim.

“At present, we have no plan for negotiations. Our focus is on reviewing the impacts and consequences of the actions taken by the three European countries (the UK, France, and Germany) and the US. Naturally, diplomacy in the form of consultations continues,” Esmaeil Baghaei said at his weekly press conference.

He criticised the behaviour of the E3 in the past three months as “irresponsible and destructive,” saying they misused the dispute settlement mechanism of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to impose Washington’s demands. 

“All three European conditions were illogical; nevertheless, we decided to engage with the Agency (IAEA),” the spokesman noted.

Baqaei stressed that the EU3 failed to prove themselves as independent actors in the process. “We believe the path of diplomacy is never closed. Whenever we conclude that diplomacy can be fruitful, we will not hesitate to use it. But the three European countries have demonstrated that diplomacy with them is not productive,” he added.

On the snapback mechanism and the EU3’s attempt to reinstate the UN sanctions, Baqaei underlined that Tehran does not recognise any Security Council decision on the matter.

“What happened was the attempt by the three European countries to revive terminated resolutions. We have conveyed this to the UN Secretary General. Our position is that Security Council resolutions expire on October 18 as scheduled. The step taken by the three European countries is legally flawed and has created confusion from a legal standpoint.”

Iran believes that the UN Secretariat’s step has no legal validity, the spokesman added, saying, “We have lodged our objection and believe that the action of the three European countries creates no obligation for governments. We expect countries to refrain from following the EU3 in this illegal action.”

By Khagan Isayev