Iran to hold nuclear talks with European powers on Friday

Iran, Britain, France and Germany will hold nuclear talks in Istanbul on Friday, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said early on Monday.

The talks scheduled for Friday come after foreign ministers of the three nations as well as the European Union's foreign policy chief, held their first call on Thursday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi since Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago.

The three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran - from which the US withdrew in 2018 - that lifted sanctions on the Middle Eastern country in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme.

They have said they would restore UN sanctions on Tehran via the "snapback mechanism" by the end of August if nuclear talks that were ongoing between Iran and the US before the Israel-Iran air war do not resume or fail to produce concrete results.

"If EU/E3 want to have a role, they should act responsibly, and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the 'snap-back' for which they lack absolutely [any] moral and legal ground," Araqchi said earlier in the week.

The snapback mechanism can be used to restore UN sanctions before the UN Security Council resolution enshrining the deal expires on October 18.

Prior to the Israel-Iran war, Tehran and Washington held five rounds of nuclear talks mediated by Oman but faced major stumbling blocks such as uranium enrichment in Iran, which Western powers want to bring down to zero to minimise any risk of weaponisation.

Tehran maintains its nuclear programme is solely meant for civilian purposes.