New US envoy, European officials 'talk on Iran deal'
The new US Iran envoy spoke with British, French and German officials on Thursday as the United States explores how to revive the 2015 nuclear deal former US President Donald Trump abandoned, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
“It was to take stock of the dossier and to assess what our state of mind is,” a European diplomatic source said of US special envoy Robert Malley’s conversation with the British, French and German foreign ministry political directors.
A second source confirmed that the discussion took place but offered no details. The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
US President Joe Biden has said if Tehran returns to the pact, Washington would do so as well and would then seek to build a broader pact to also deal with Iran’s development of ballistic missiles and support for proxy forces in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.
Trump abandoned the deal in 2018 and revived US sanctions. Iran in 2019 begin violating the deal, including by enriching larger quantities of uranium to higher levels of purity.
The Biden administration has insisted Iran resume complying before it would. Tehran argues that Washington abandoned the agreement and should return before Iran does.
French President Emmanuel Macron was quoted on Friday as saying any new negotiations would be very “strict” and should include Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional adversary, Al Arabiya television reported.
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