Iran and three European powers are set to hold a fresh round of nuclear talks in Geneva on Tuesday, August 26, as Tehran and the EU3 — Britain, France and Germany — seek to restart negotiations over Tehran’s atomic programme and the prospect of lifting sanctions. Iranian state media and multiple Western outlets said the meeting will bring together deputy foreign ministers from both sides, with the European Union joining as a coordinator.
The talks follow a series of high-level contacts over the summer and come after a preliminary agreement in recent meetings to resume discussions on both nuclear constraints and the related sanctions dispute. European diplomats have warned time is running out to avoid triggering a UN “snapback” mechanism that would reinstate long-dormant sanctions, making the Geneva session explicitly about narrowing gaps and setting a timetable for more substantive negotiations.
Iranian state outlets said Tehran will send a delegation led by senior diplomats at the deputy-ministerial level; Iranian officials portray the talks as a technical, negotiable step that does not imply a return to the 2015 accord but could ease tensions if reciprocal steps are agreed. European officials, for their part, stress that any progress must include verifiable limits on enrichment and renewed IAEA cooperation, and they have repeatedly warned that failure to meet diplomatic deadlines could prompt unilateral or multilateral pressure.
The diplomatic opening comes amid heightened regional tensions and hardline rhetoric inside Iran. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has publicly rejected direct engagement with the United States and cautioned against yielding to American demands, even as Tehran permits limited contacts with European counterparts to defuse sanctions threats.
