Iran to Discuss Nuclear Talks and Regional Issues with France, Germany, and UK

Teheran Update

Iran will hold nuclear talks and discuss issues regarding Palestine and Lebanon soon. The discussions will involve representatives from Iran, France, Germany, and the UK. This meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 29, although the location has not been disclosed.

Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, mentioned that various regional and international topics, including Palestine, Lebanon, and nuclear matters, will be addressed in the talks. He described these future discussions as a continuation of conversations that took place in September during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

On Thursday, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), consisting of 35 countries, passed a resolution criticizing Iran for its alleged lack of cooperation. This action comes amid rising tensions regarding Iran’s nuclear program, which critics fear aims to develop nuclear weapons—an accusation Iran has consistently denied.

The IAEA’s chief, Rafael Grossi, recently visited Teheran and reported some progress during his trip. Iran has agreed to limit its sensitive uranium stock, which has been enriched to near weapons-grade levels of 60%.

In response to the IAEA’s resolution, Iran announced the launch of a series of new advanced centrifuges. These centrifuges will enrich uranium at high speeds, increasing the percentage of the fissile isotope uranium-235 (U-235). Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for Iran’s atomic energy organization, stated that Iran would significantly increase its enrichment capacity with various advanced machines.

Despite this, Iran stated that it plans to continue its technical and security cooperation with the IAEA. President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has been in office since July and supports dialogue with Western nations, expressed his desire to remove doubts about Iran’s nuclear program.

Since 2021, Iran has reduced its cooperation with the IAEA by disabling surveillance devices monitoring its nuclear program and limiting access to UN inspectors. At the same time, Iran has increased its enriched uranium supplies and raised enrichment levels to 60%. According to the IAEA, this level is close to the 90% threshold required for nuclear weapons and is significantly above the 3.67% limit set in the 2015 agreement.