Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi and its deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi, had a discussion with Enrique Mora, deputy secretary general of the European External Action Service.
Posting to X after their meeting on Thursday, Mora said they discussed “Iran’s military support to Russia that has to stop, the nuclear issue that needs a diplomatic solution, regional tensions (important to avoid further escalation from all sides) and human rights.”
Gharibabadi responded with a post on Friday, saying that their meeting focused on nuclear talks and lifting sanctions and that “Europe has failed to be a serious player due to lack of self-confidence and responsibility.”
“EU should abandon its self-centered and irresponsible behavior towards issues and challenges of this continent and international matters,” he added.
Iran is expected to hold nuclear talks with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom on Friday, days after the United Nations nuclear watchdog adopted a resolution accusing Iran of not cooperating and Tehran responded by announcing it would begin operating new, more advanced centrifuges.
Tehran has always maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful and it is not pursuing a weapon, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a warning ahead of their meeting, saying that the debate in Iran could shift if the West follows through on its threat to reimpose United Nations sanctions.
“So I can tell you, quite frankly, that there is this debate going on in Iran, and mostly among the elites - even among the ordinary people - whether we should change this policy or not, whether we should change our nuclear doctrine, as some say, or not, because it has proved insufficient in practice,” Araghchi told reporters in Lisbon on Thursday, the Guardian reported.
Iran, France, Germany, and the UK are signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal that saw Iran agree to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The pact was severely weakened when the United States withdrew in 2018.
