Paris (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Foreign ministers from France, the UK, and Germany are expected to speak on the phone with their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday morning, a French diplomatic source said.
The phone call follows European powers‘ last month issuing a 30-day ultimatum for a return of sanctions if an agreement cannot be struck over the Iranian nuclear programme.
The source states that the main objective of the call is to talk about the pressure from European powers to reinstate UN sanctions, and reaffirm the terms for Tehran that would give support for delaying that decision.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that Tehran is ready to work towards a “fair and balanced solution” to the nuclear programme impasse. Araghchi made the comments during a phone call with his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, who encouraged continued dialogue.
How does Iran view the snapback sanctions mechanism
Mr Araghchi has dismissed Europe‘s attempt to trigger the UN sanctions “snapback” mechanism, describing it as both politically and legally unfounded, and cautioned that it would only increase tensions. He reiterated that Iran’s nuclear program remains peaceful and pointed to a recent agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In 2025, the European Three (France, Germany and the United Kingdom) and Iran engaged in several contacts to resolve the nuclear matter as part of the ongoing movement to avoid reimposition of UN sanctions and restore the nuclear deal.
The E3 is prepared to implement snapback sanctions in the absence of substantive negotiations by Iran and cooperation with IAEA inspections – Iran warned there would be severe consequences if the sanctions regime was reinstated.
How have recent talks between Iran and the E3 progressed?
The most recent call before the current engagement took place in late August, when Iran and the European powers were engaged in diplomatic communications to attempt to prevent the reimposition of sanctions. On August 26, 2025, after nuclear talks concluded with no goal achieved, Iran and the representatives of the UK, France, and Germany committed to “maintain contacts in the coming days” to keep the doors open for future dialogue over Tehran’s nuclear program.
