As a deadlock over their 2015 nuclear deal remains in place, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation have held meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and other top European leaders.
On Tuesday, European Council President Charles Michel, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and his deputy Enrique Mora, who act as coordinators of the nuclear talks that began in April 2021, met with Raisi, who was accompanied by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani.
Separate talks were held between Bagheri and Mora thought to be predominantly focused on stalled efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the United States unilaterally abandoned in 2018.
The Iranian president emphasized a major demand to his French counterpart that an inquiry by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into several Iranian nuclear sites revolving around unexplained nuclear particles must be concluded for any agreement, according to Raisi’s website.
Raisi told Macron, “The agency’s approach towards technical issues must be away from pressures by others, and we believe that achieving an agreement will not be possible without closing Iran’s cases.”
“Europe must show in action that its policies are separate from those of the US and does not follow the wishes and policies of the US,” Raisi also stated.
On Raisi’s website, the French president was quoted saying, “Iran and the agency are able to resolve existing cases and we won’t exert political pressure on the agency on this issue.”
In June, the E3, composed of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and the United States introduced a resolution censuring Iran which led to Iran dismantling 28 agency cameras at its nuclear sites.
