US and European leaders discuss progress of Iran nuclear deal

Call comes after EU and US said they were studying Iran's response to a 'final' proposal to revive the deal

Iranian technicians at the heavy water reactor near Arak, 250 kilometres south-west of Tehran, in December 2019. Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran via AP

The leaders of the US, Britain, France and Germany discussed efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on Sunday during a call mainly focused on Ukraine.

"In addition, they discussed ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme, the need to strengthen support for partners in the Middle East region, and joint efforts to deter and constrain Iran’s destabilising regional activities," the White House said.

No further details were provided on the Middle Eastern portion of the discussion among US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The EU and US last week said they were studying Iran's response to what the EU has called its "final" proposal to revive the deal, under which Tehran curbed its nuclear programme in return for economic sanctions relief.

Failure in the nuclear negotiations could raise the risk of a regional war, with Israel threatening military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.

Iran, which has long denied having such ambitions, has warned of a "crushing" response to any Israeli attack.

Iran's nuclear sites - in pictures

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  Russian contractors work at the Bushehr nuclear reactor site in 2007. The plant opened four years later. Bloomberg

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  An Iranian technician at the International Atomic Energy Agency inspects the country's Isfahan plant in 2007. Tehran is no longer co-operating with the agency at nuclear sites across the country. EPA

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  Workers wait to begin constructing a second reactor at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2019. AFP

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  A metal-encased rod with 20 per cent enriched nuclear fuel is inserted into a reactor in Tehran in 2012. AFP

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  Fomer Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the country's Atomic Energy Organisation chief Ali Akbar Salehi speak at the Bushehr nuclear site in 2015. AFP

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  Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant has been restarted. EPA

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  Mehdi Abrichamtchi, chairman of the Peace and Security Committee at the National Council of Resistance of Iran, shows journalists the location of a secret nuclear site in Iran in 2013. AFP

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  Workers prepare to begin the construction of a second reactor at the Bushehr site. AFP

In 2018, then-president Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear deal reached before he took office.

Mr Trump called it too soft on Iran and reimposed harsh US sanctions, spurring Tehran to begin breaching its limits on uranium enrichment.

US and Israel pledge to deny Iran nuclear weapons - video