Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell on Tuesday in Jordan on the sidelines of a regional summit, an Iranian diplomat told AFP.
This meeting comes as negotiations on Iranian nuclear power between Tehran and the major powers are deadlocked.
The European Union coordinator responsible for overseeing the talks in Vienna, Enrique Mora, and Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Bagheri, also attended the meeting, according to Iran’s official Irna news agency.
Iran and the major powers launched talks in April 2021 in Vienna aimed at resuscitating an international agreement concluded in 2015 which guarantees the civilian character of Iran’s nuclear program, accused despite its denials of seeking to acquire the atomic weapon. But these negotiations have stalled.
The EU also imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran last week in protest at the Islamic Republic’s handling of the wave of protests rocking Iran, where thousands of protesters have been arrested.
Iran’s Foreign Minister said Monday that the summit in Jordan, whose objective is to try to defuse crises in the region, was an “opportunity” to relaunch negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue.
Negotiations stumbled in particular on the question of the presence of traces of enriched uranium on three sites in Iran for which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is seeking explanations.
On Monday, an IAEA delegation led by Massimo Aparo, deputy director general, met with officials in Iran, including Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, according to local news agency Isna.