Iranian officials are scheduled to hold talks with Germany, France, and the United Kingdom on Friday in an effort to curb an escalation in its war with Israel after US President Donald Trump announced that he would decide within two weeks whether to join the attack on Tehran. Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, stated that they will meet with the European delegation in Geneva on Friday.
On the other hand, European diplomats confirmed the planned dialogues in Switzerland, which involve German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, as well as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. All of these European ministers and Kallas spoke to Araghchi earlier this week to discuss the need to return to the dialogue table and avoid further escalation. Iran’s officials requested the other side to hold a face-to-face meeting.
Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, said that European countries are planning to propose a negotiated solution to end the war. Macron asked his foreign minister to assemble an initiative with close allies to that end. On Thursday, Barrot stated that following talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on the crisis, three countries are ready to bring their expertise and experience to bear on this conflict. He added that all of them are ready to play their role in negotiations aimed at obtaining from Iran a lasting closure of its ballistic and nuclear missile programs.
Iran Must Never Have a Nuclear Weapon – Lammy
British Lammy was planning to travel to Switzerland after visiting Washington, DC, for meetings with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Lammy stated that they have decided that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon, and a window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution to this matter.
Israel has consistently said that its series of attacks on Iran is a preemptive move to stop Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Iran denies that it is developing atomic weapons and insists that its nuclear program is for the sake of peace and self-defense. The International Atomic Energy Agency also stated that it had found no evidence that Iran was developing such atomic weapons.
Trump Weighs Interference
The escalation of diplomatic efforts comes as Trump announced he is considering military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities. On Thursday, Trump said he would decide within two weeks whether the US would directly get involved militarily in the conflict, citing the “substantial chance” of renewed diplomatic negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran’s well-protected Fordow uranium enrichment plant, which is buried inside a mountain, is generally believed to be out of reach for all but the US’s so-called “bunker-buster” bombs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed confidence that Trump would “do what’s best for America,’ adding, ‘I can tell you that they’re already helping a lot,’ in Beersheba.
The talks will take place in Geneva, where an initial agreement between Iran and global powers to limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions was reached in 2013, leading to a more comprehensive deal in 2015. Trump left the Iran nuclear deal during his first term as president in 2018, dismissing last-ditch diplomatic efforts by his European allies to sway him.
Negotiations between Iran and the US had been taking place when Israel launched what it called Operation Rising Lion against Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic capabilities on June 12.
The conflict began with a sudden wave of Israeli attacks targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites, killing top generals and nuclear scientists. Since Israel launched a surprise wave of air raids against Iran a week ago, at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran, with more than 1,300 wounded, according to the US-based rights group Human Rights Activists.
