On Friday, France urged Iran to curb its nuclear activities considered to pose "unprecedented danger," while U.S. and European envoys meet to discuss efforts aimed at reviving the stalled 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran. U.S. envoy Robert Malley joined his counterparts from France, Britain, and Germany in meetings hosted in Paris, described by the French Foreign Ministry as a "critical timing" for efforts to salvage the agreement.
French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre stated in an online briefing, "It is urgent and essential for Iran to stop the unprecedented dangerous activities it is undertaking in violation of the agreement, and to immediately resume full cooperation" with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA is responsible for monitoring the 2015 agreement aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for lifting the crippling sanctions imposed on Tehran.
The United States withdrew from the agreement during former President Donald Trump's administration and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Since then, Iran has intensified its nuclear activities, now violating several aspects of the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran's nuclear activities include uranium enrichment, which Western countries fear could be used to manufacture a nuclear bomb. Tehran denies any such ambitions.
Legendre also mentioned that U.S. and European partners are ready to return to negotiations with Iran "to quickly reach an agreement regarding Iran's return to its commitments and the United States' return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action." The new hardline Iranian government led by President Ebrahim Raisi, which came to power last August, hinted at its intention to return to nuclear talks in Vienna but refrained from setting a date.
