Iran, European Powers Meet In Bid To Avoid Fresh Nuclear Crisis

(MENAFN- Live Mint) (Bloomberg) -- Top diplomats from Europe and Iran are meeting in New York to try to avert a fresh crisis over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program as the country faces the resumption of sweeping United Nations sanctions.

Foreign ministers from France, Germany, the UK and the European Union's top envoy started talks with their counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

The discussions are part of a last-ditch effort to prevent a decades-long standoff over Iran's atomic activities from causing further instability in the Middle East, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing private talks.

In August, the three main European powers triggered the so-called snapback mechanism - a veto-proof provision in the 2015 deal to control Iran's atomic activities - giving Tehran 30 days to comply to a set of demands or face the reimposition of international sanctions on its economy and missile program.

While the European powers and Iran have emphasized their commitment to finding a diplomatic solution, it's unlikely that they will find a breakthrough in the next two days.

Tensions between Iran and the West have escalated significantly over the past year, particularly after Israel and the US carried-out airstrikes on the Islamic Republic in June, including the dropping of bombs on a number of key Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran significantly restricted the International Atomic Energy Agency's access to its nuclear program after the attacks. The agency has said it has little information about the condition of a stockpile of highly-enriched uranium that Iran had moved to an undeclared location ahead of the strikes and which it's recently said lies buried under rubble.

Both Israel and the US have accused Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon, something that Tehran has repeatedly denied, often citing its status as a signatory of the international Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Europe's demands on Iran included resuming negotiations with the US and allowing the IAEA to revive full inspections, neither which have so far been met by Tehran. Last week, the UN Security Council failed to pass a resolution seeking to halt the sanctions, paving the way for them to come into effect on Sept. 28, after a final UN vote on the matter scheduled on Friday.

Iran is already subject to a tough US sanctions regime as well as a list of EU human-rights measures. The US, which withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal during President Donald Trump's first term, has backed the European push to have the UN penalties reimposed on Tehran.

Iran has threatened to leave the NPT if UN sanctions are resumed, which could permanently throttle IAEA inspections and create deeper ambiguity over the nature and purpose of Iran's atomic activities.

“If there is a solution, it can only be a diplomatic one. I hope that in the consultations over these next few days we can reach that point; otherwise, Iran will take whatever measures are necessary,” Araghchi told Iranian state media.

--With assistance from Ellen Milligan, Arne Delfs and Jonathan Tirone.

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