The talks are set to be the first since the United States attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities last month, and after Israel launched surprise military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and senior commanders on June 13.
“Iran has agreed to hold a new round of talks in response to the request of European countries,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Monday, as cited by Iran’s state broadcaster.
The negotiations will be held between Iranian diplomats and their counterparts from France, Britain, and Germany in Istanbul over Tehran’s nuclear program, it added.
On Sunday, Iranian semi-official media reported that Tehran had agreed to a new round of nuclear talks with the European powers.
In a phone call with his British, French, and German counterparts, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday urged Western countries to abandon “worn-out policies of threat and pressure,” including the snapback mechanism.
He said during the call, which also included EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, that the mechanism has “no moral or legal basis” if they seek a new round of nuclear negotiations.
European countries have threatened to impose the “snapback” mechanism stipulated in the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which would trigger the reimposition of sanctions on the Islamic republic for non-compliance with the deal.
Under a 2015 deal with world powers - formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - Iran agreed to curb its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for much-needed relief from crippling sanctions.
But the deal began unraveling in 2018 when Washington, under President Donald Trump’s first term, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and reimposed biting sanctions on the Islamic republic, which in turn began rolling back on its nuclear commitments.
Iran’s top leadership has repeatedly stressed that atomic weapons have no place in the Islamic republic’s doctrine.
Iran and the US had held five rounds of Oman-mediated indirect nuclear talks before Israel attacked the Islamic republic last month, which effectively ended the negotiations, especially after Trump joined in striking Iran.
Washington on June 24 brokered a ceasefire to the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei later declared victory, claiming that Trump had exaggerated the destruction caused by US military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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