ROME (AP) — President Joe Biden said Saturday that nuclear talks with Iran would resume when he and a trio of European allies warned that Iran had “accelerated the speed of provocative nuclear measures” after their assembly to align negotiating strategy to verify. for Iran and the United States to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
Biden’ and the leaders of Germany, France and Britain met at a crucial time as Iran continues to enrich uranium to levels close to the military’s grade. The leaders are seeking to revive the 2015 deal and repair Iran’s program where it is in the pact, which has kept the Islamic Republic at least a year away from the option of deploying a nuclear weapon.
In a joint meeting after the assembly with Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Brito’s Boris Johnson, the 4 leaders “expressed our determination to make sure Iran can never expand or acquire a nuclear weapon. “
The leaders also said they shared “our grave and growing concern” that Iran “has accelerated the speed of provocative nuclear measures” after halting negotiations on a return to the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). .
They also warned that Iran’s nuclear advances and restrictions on foreign tracking through the International Atomic Energy Agency will “jeopardize the option of returning” to the deal.
As the leaders posed for photographs before their closed-door talks, Biden asked when he would like stalled negotiations with Iran to resume.
“They resume,” he said, in what gave the impression of being the first public confirmation through the United States of a resumption of negotiations.
Iran has still committed to a date to resume nuclear talks in Vienna, but has indicated that it will do so next week with the aim of resuming negotiations by the end of November. The United States and others have expressed skepticism about Iran’s intentions.
The U. N. atomic watch body said Iran was increasingly violating the nuclear deal, from which President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States. The United States has engaged in talks aimed at bringing Washington and Tehran back into compliance. June, when Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took power.
Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union are still in the deal.
“We call on President Raisi to seize this opportunity and return to a smart religious effort to conclude our negotiations urgently,” the leaders said in their statement. any country.
Saturday’s assembly came as leaders are in Rome for the Group of 20 summit, the first leg of Biden’s five days abroad, and he also attended a United Nations weather convention in Scotland.
Biden welcomed the summit venue through Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and joined his counterparts for the same old “family photo,” before attending the opening plenary consultation on the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery.
Saturday’s assembly came days after Ali Bagheri, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and leading negotiator of the talks, tweeted that Iran had agreed to resume negotiations until the end of November and that the date for the resumption of talks “will be announced in the coming week. . “
U. S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday that the U. S. is still investigating whether Iran is serious about resuming negotiations.
“We’ve heard positive signals, but I think we have to wait and see when and if they show up at the negotiating table,” he told reporters Thursday aboard Air Force One as Biden flew to Rome.
Sullivan said the leaders would send “clear messages” to Iran that the negotiating window “is limitless. “
“Of course, we are retaining all other features to process this program if necessary,” he said.
Saturday’s assembly comes after U. S. officials accused Iran of a drone strike on a U. S. outpost in Syria. Officials said Monday that the United States believed Iran had funded and encouraged the attack, but that drones had been introduced from Iran.
No deaths were reported or as a result of the attack.
In retaliation, the U. S. Treasury Department on Friday announced new sanctions against two senior officials of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and two affiliated corporations for offering fatal drones and similar devices to rebel equipment in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Ethiopia.
At the summit, Biden set out to move toward his goal of a 15% global minimum corporate tax, the White House said, even as his domestic efforts to raise the corporate rate through that number stalled in Washington.
He also hoped to discuss measures to alleviate the global energy crisis that has boosted emerging prices, jeopardizing the global economic recovery. goods due to the pandemic.