The meeting between representatives of Iran’s regime and the European troika—Germany, the United Kingdom, and France—which began on Friday morning in Istanbul, has concluded.
Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy foreign minister of Iran’s regime, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, May 16: “If necessary, these talks will continue.”
After the joint meeting between Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi—deputy ministers for political, legal, and international judicial affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry—and the political directors of Germany, the UK, and France, Olof Skoog, the deputy to the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, is scheduled to meet with the Iranian delegation.
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Dominik Mutter, the Political Director at Germany’s Foreign Ministry, represented Germany in the Istanbul meeting, during which the European side was briefed on the Iranian regime’s nuclear program and the details of the Tehran–Washington talks.
On Thursday, May 15, the spokesperson for France’s Foreign Ministry announced that the talks between the three European countries and Iran (at the level of political deputies) in Istanbul, Turkey, are taking place “in full coordination with the United States,” and the aim is to find a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear crisis, given that time is running out.
Prior to this, four rounds of meetings had been held between deputy foreign ministers of Iran’s regime and the political directors of the foreign ministries of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. According to European diplomats, these meetings were “unproductive.”
Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran’s regime, said on May 14 about the negotiations with European countries: “Unfortunately, the Europeans themselves have become somewhat isolated in these negotiations due to their own policies. We do not seek such a situation and will continue our talks. I think the next round of negotiations at the level of deputy foreign ministers will be held on Friday in Istanbul.”
On May 15, Axios reported, citing a U.S. official and two informed sources, that during the fourth round of nuclear negotiations in Oman, the administration of Donald Trump had presented a formal proposal for a nuclear agreement with the Iranian regime.
The proposal was delivered on Sunday, May 11, by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for Middle East affairs and the head of Washington’s negotiating team with Tehran, to Araghchi, who then took the proposal to Tehran for review and consultation with regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials.
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Berlin, Paris, and London have threatened that if Iran’s nuclear issue is not resolved, they will trigger the United Nations snapback sanctions mechanism against the regime.
The meeting between the Iranian regime’s representatives and the European troika took place as Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected to present a comprehensive report on Tehran’s nuclear program to the IAEA Board of Governors.
