TEHRAN CALLED UPON TO ‘CHANGE COURSE’

▶ Fears among US and European leaders over Iran’s nuclear activities

US, French, German and British leaders have described their concern at Iran’s “provocative” acceleration of its nuclear activities.

They said that Tehran’s lack of co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency made the issue all the more troubling.

But they praised “our Gulf partners’ regional diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions”.

US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron were meeting on the sidelines of G20 talks in Rome.

The three European countries are still signed up to the 2015 deal that Iran also agreed with the EU, the US, China and Russia.

This gave Tehran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear capabilities.

In 2018, Donald Trump, the US president, unilaterally withdraw from the accord and renewed heavy sanctions on Tehran.

In return, Iran has repeatedly breached the terms of the deal.

Negotiations in Vienna about a return to the 2015 agreement have been on hold since June following Iran’s presidential election that brought Ebrahim Raisi to power.

A statement by the three European countries and the US highlighted their concern that, despite the pause in the Vienna talks, Tehran “has accelerated the pace of provocative nuclear steps, such as the production of highly enriched uranium and enriched uranium metal”.

“Iran has no credible civilian need for either measure, but both are important to nuclear weapons programmes,” they said.

They said that further nuclear advances and obstruction of the IAEA would jeopardise a return to the 2015 deal.

Mr Biden has indicated that he wants a nuclear deal, but only if Iran returns to compliance.

Tehran says sanctions, which froze billions of dollars of payments for oil imports, must be lifted first. Iran also wants assurances they will not return.

Iran’s nuclear negotiator said on Wednesday that the Vienna talks would resume by the end of November, with a date to be announced this week. Ali Bagheri Kani was in Brussels to meet EU official Enrique Mora, who has been co-ordinating the Vienna negotiations.

Asked in Rome when he wanted the talks to resume, Mr Biden said: “They’re scheduled to resume.”

The US, France, Germany and the UK said they were “convinced that it remains possible to quickly reach and implement an understanding on return to full compliance to ensure for the long term that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes, and to provide sanctions lifting with long-lasting implications for Iran’s economic growth”.

“This will only be possible if Iran changes course. We call upon President Raisi to seize this opportunity and return to a good-faith effort to conclude our negotiations as a matter of urgency. That is the only sure way to avoid a dangerous escalation, which is not in any country’s interest,” they said.

They also raised their “shared determination” to address broader security concerns stemming from Iran’s actions in the Middle East.