Iran to begin new round of talks with UN nuclear watchdog
TEHRAN
Iran said on Aug. 18 that a new round of talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will start in the upcoming days.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a press briefing that the talks will likely take place over the coming days following a visit by IAEA Deputy Director General Massimo Aparo to Tehran last week.
Baqaei said Aparo’s visit was meant to “examine how Iran and the agency interacted” after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
Iran was engaged in Oman-mediated nuclear negotiations with the U.S. when Israel launched a surprise attack on Tehran on June 13, targeting military, nuclear and civilian sites as well as senior military commanders and nuclear scientists.
Tehran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes, while the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear sites.
The 12-day conflict came to a halt under a U.S.-sponsored ceasefire that took effect on June 24.
On Aug. 14, Iran said it was working with China and Russia to prevent the snapback of European sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme after Britain, France and Germany threatened to reimpose them.
“We are working with China and Russia to stop it. If this does not work and they apply it, we have tools to respond. We will discuss them in due course,” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said in an interview with state TV.
The trio of European powers, known as the E3, told the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Aug. 13 that they were ready to reimpose sanctions on Tehran if no diplomatic solution was found by the end of August.
All three were signatories to a 2015 deal that lifted sanctions in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme.
The agreement, which terminates in October, includes a “snapback mechanism” allowing sanctions to be restored.
