Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that a new round of negotiations between the Iranian regime and three European countries over Tehran’s nuclear program will take place on Tuesday, August 26, in Geneva, Switzerland.
On Monday, August 25, Tasnim quoted an informed source saying that Majid Takht-Ravanchi, the deputy foreign minister for political affairs, will head the Iranian regime’s delegation in this round of talks, while “the deputy foreign ministers of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom will also attend.”
The source added: “The agenda of these negotiations is nuclear issues and the lifting of sanctions.”
The Iranian Regime’s Supreme Leader Rejected Direct Negotiations with the United States
Earlier, on August 22, Iranian regime foreign minister Abbas Araghchi held a phone call with his counterparts in the three European countries as well as the European Union’s foreign policy chief to discuss the snapback mechanism.
In this call, it was agreed that negotiations on the Iranian regime’s nuclear program would continue.
In recent days, speculation has intensified over the fate of Tehran’s nuclear program, the European Troika’s decision to activate the snapback mechanism, and the Iranian regime’s possible reaction to it.
This comes as the legal deadline of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 approaches and the likelihood of the snapback mechanism being triggered increases. Tehran and its allies have intensified their consultations to counter this mechanism.
On August 23, Araghchi and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov discussed in a phone call the developments related to Iran’s nuclear file, recent moves by European countries, and Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iran’s Regime and Russia Intensify Consultations to ‘Contain Snapback’
Ali Larijani, secretary of the Iranian regime’s Supreme National Security Council, on August 22 referred to the possibility of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom activating the snapback mechanism and said, “Important countries” have disagreements about “how to use” this mechanism.
He also addressed the possibility of the Iranian regime withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and added: “This assumption has always existed. The reality is that the NPT has never benefited us.”
Before the twelve-day war, five rounds of nuclear negotiations were held between Tehran and Washington, but the talks reached a deadlock due to the Iranian regime’s insistence on continuing uranium enrichment on Iranian soil.
On August 24, Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei accused the United States of trying “to bring the Iranian nation to its knees and make it obedient,” and said that “the essence of the issue is America’s enmity,” which makes matters such as direct negotiations “unsolvable.”
Meanwhile, the British newspaper The Telegraph reported that a faction within the Iranian regime, led by Ali Larijani, is ready to significantly reduce its uranium enrichment level in order to prevent Britain and other Western countries from reimposing United Nations sanctions.
On Sunday, August 24, the British outlet quoted regime officials as saying that Tehran is willing to back down from its hardline stance to prevent further attacks from Israel and the United States as well as the activation of the snapback mechanism.
According to the report, Ali Larijani is leading the efforts to persuade the leadership to reduce the uranium enrichment level from 60% to 20%.
Before the snapback mechanism is activated, the Iranian regime is making great efforts to escape comprehensive sanctions by any means. The regime has a 22-year history of fruitless nuclear negotiations with the West, and this weakness of Western countries along with their policy of appeasement has made Tehran believe it is immune from any danger.
