TEHRAN (Realist English). Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that European powers had “undermined their standing” in efforts to resolve the country’s nuclear dispute, warning that the UK, France, and Germany would play a much smaller role in any future negotiations.
Speaking in Tehran after meeting with foreign ambassadors and heads of international missions, Araghchi accused the three European states — known collectively as the E3 — of misusing the UN “snapback” mechanism to pressure Iran, only to find it “resolved no problems and made diplomacy more difficult and complex.”
“Diplomacy never ends,” he said. “But the question is under what conditions, with which parties, and on what basis it continues. The current circumstances are completely different from before. The three European countries have largely forfeited the rationale for engaging in negotiations with them.”
The comments came a week after the E3 formally activated the snapback process under the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) — a 30-day mechanism designed to restore UN sanctions. Tehran has rejected the move as illegitimate, arguing that the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018 invalidated the process and that the Europeans, instead of upholding their commitments, aligned themselves with Washington’s unilateral sanctions.
A last-minute diplomatic push by Russia and China at the UN Security Council on September 26 failed to delay or block the snapback. Two days later, the U.S. and European allies declared that all UN restrictions on Iran were reinstated — a claim Tehran and several Security Council members dispute.
Araghchi also confirmed that Iran had held indirect talks with the United States in recent months through intermediaries, limited strictly to nuclear-related matters. He said Tehran remained open to diplomacy if the other side approached negotiations “in good faith and with respect for mutual interests.”
However, he stressed that the context for talks had changed dramatically after the “recent Israeli–U.S. military aggression against Iran” and Europe’s decision to reimpose sanctions. “Future negotiations will in no way resemble those of the past,” he said.
Asked about the fate of a cooperation agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed in Cairo on September 9, Araghchi said the accord “can no longer serve as the basis” for interaction with the agency. Iran, he added, would soon announce how it intends to redefine its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
“The Islamic Republic sought a fair and balanced negotiated solution,” Araghchi concluded, “but Western countries rejected these efforts through their excessive and unreasonable demands.”
