Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Protesters hold Iranian flags and signs as they rally during a "No War on Iran" demonstration outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles on June 18, 2025. Photo by Apu Gomes/AFP

Article (news)

Iran

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17530708592771750316351791Screen Shot 2025-06-19 at 2.58.51 PM.webp" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Protesters hold Iranian flags and signs as they rally during a &quot;No War on Iran&quot; demonstration outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles on June 18, 2025. Photo by Apu Gomes/AFP</span></span></span></div><p>BERLIN, Germany — Iran confirmed fresh talks with European powers to be held on Friday in Istanbul, the country&#x27;s state media reported, the first since the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago.</p><p>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 program.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/6/22/us-says-strikes-devastated-iran-s-nuclear-program-0013">US says strikes &#x27;devastated&#x27; Iran&#x27;s nuclear program</a></div><p>Western nations and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.</p><p>&quot;In response to the request of European countries, Iran has agreed to hold a new round of talks,&quot; said foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghai, as quoted by state TV on Monday.</p><p>The subject of the talks will be Iran&#x27;s nuclear program, it added.</p><p>A German diplomatic source had told AFP on Sunday the E3 were in contact with Tehran and said &quot;Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon&quot;.</p><p>&quot;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 program,&quot; the source said.</p><p>Israel launched on June 13 a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, targeting key military and nuclear facilities.</p><p>The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran&#x27;s nuclear program 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.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>KREMLIN MEETING</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Iran and the United States had held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war against Iran.</p><p>However, US President Donald Trump&#x27;s decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/7/18/dfa-lowers-alert-level-in-iran-1105">DFA lowers alert level in Iran</a></div><p>The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 -- just one day before the US strikes.</p><p>Also Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran&#x27;s supreme leader on nuclear issues.</p><p>Larijani &quot;conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear program&quot;, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting.</p><p>Putin had expressed Russia&#x27;s &quot;well-known positions on how to stabilize the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear program&quot;, he added.</p><p>Moscow has a cordial relationship with Iran&#x27;s clerical leadership and provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even after the United States joined Israel&#x27;s bombing campaign.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>SNAPBACK MECHANISM</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Iran and world powers struck a deal in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed significant restrictions on Tehran&#x27;s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.</p><p>But the hard-won deal began to unravel in 2018, during Trump&#x27;s first presidency, when the United States walked away from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran.</p><p>European countries have in recent days threatened to trigger the deal&#x27;s &quot;snapback&quot; mechanism, which allows the reimposition of sanctions in the event of non-compliance by Iran.</p><p>After a call with his European counterparts on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Western allies had &quot;absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds&quot; for reactivating the snapback sanctions.</p><p>He elaborated in a post to social media Sunday.</p><p>&quot;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 &#x27;Participants&#x27; in the JCPOA,&quot; said Araghchi.</p><p>That made any attempt to reinstate the terminated UN Security Council resolutions &quot;null and void&quot;, he added.</p><p>&quot;Iran has shown that it is capable of defeating any delusional &#x27;dirty work&#x27; but has always been prepared to reciprocate meaningful diplomacy in good faith,&quot; Araghchi wrote.</p><p>However, the German source said Sunday that &quot;if no solution is reached over the summer, snapback remains an option for the E3&quot;.</p><p>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.</p><div><strong>— By Femke Colborne, Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yl3g2dBgR1Y?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Iran confirmed fresh talks with European powers to be held on Friday in Istanbul, the first since the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago.</p>

Iran confirmed fresh talks with European powers to be held on Friday in Istanbul, the first since the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago.

Iran confirms fresh nuclear talks with European powers: state media

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Traffic

Manila

Horoscope

World

Iran confirms fresh nuclear talks with European powers: state media

Agence France-Presse

Published Jul 21, 2025 12:09 PM PHT

Read More:

Iran

nuclear

diplomacy

Britain

France

Germany

power

Israel

US

politics

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.