The window of opportunity for the US and Iran to strike a deal on a new nuclear pact is rapidly closing, the French Foreign Affairs Ministry warned on Friday, ahead of a second round of talks between Washington and Tehran in Rome on Saturday.
Though Europe is not directly involved in the talks, which began last week in Oman, officials on the continent are closely monitoring developments.
France, Germany and the UK, collectively known as the E3, were parties to the now-defunct 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an accord that placed limits on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Saturday's talks signal a “shared desire to seek a negotiated solution”, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said during a press briefing, responding to a question from The National.
“Time is of the essence because we are approaching the 10th anniversary of the agreement,” he said, in a reference to Europe possibly reinstating sanctions on Iran in October, when the JCPOA expires.
“The window of opportunity is shrinking day by day,” Mr Lemoine added. “But we are not ruling out any possibility of being able to continue discussions, and hoping to reach an agreement.”
Iran was a key point of discussion in Paris on Thursday at a high-level summit primarily focused on Ukraine. The meeting brought together US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Germany's National Security Adviser Jens Plotner.
The EU has been sidelined in the continuing Iran-US talks despite having traditionally taken a lead mediation role between Iran and world powers since 2006.
Mr Rubio urged his European counterparts to work towards reimposing UN sanctions on Iran under the JCPOA's “snapback” mechanism, which can be activated if Iran is found to be in violation of the pact.
″We should all anticipate, based on the public comments yesterday, that they’re about to get a report from the [International Atomic Energy Agency] that says not just is Iran out of compliance, but Iran is dangerously close to a weapon, closer than they’ve ever been,” Mr Rubio said.
He added: “And then [the Europeans] are going to have to make a decision about whether they want to reimpose these sanctions. And if Iran is out of compliance, they have to reimpose the sanctions.″
The 2015 nuclear deal collapsed with US President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal, while Iran abandoned all limits on its nuclear programme.
During the Oman talks last week, Iran told the US that it was ready to accept some limits on its uranium enrichment but needed watertight guarantees that Mr Trump would not again ditch a nuclear pact, according to Reuters.
Speaking on Monday in Luxembourg, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot emphasised that the E3 would remain “vigilant” to ensure that “any [US-Iran] negotiations that may take place comply with our security interests with regard to Iran's nuclear programme”.
Echoing France's warning, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, confirmed consultations were continuing with the E3 about the looming deadline of the snapback mechanism. It was discussed with the US at a recent G7 meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Canada.
“We are constantly talking with the E3 countries [on] what the position could be, because the deadline of the snapback is really approaching,” she said. “Nobody wants to see Iran developing a nuclear weapon.”
