France, Germany, UK and US 'seriously concerned' by Iranian retaliatory actions to atomic watchdog's resolution

The National

Iran will hold talks with France, Germany and Britain on Friday about nuclear and regional issues, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Sunday.

He did not say where the talks would take place but Japan's Kyodo news agency earlier reported that representatives of the four countries would meet in Geneva on November 29. The announcement comes days after the UN atomic watchdog passed a resolution against Iran.

Iran reacted to the resolution, which was proposed by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, with what government officials called various measures, such as activating numerous new and advanced centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium.

Kyodo said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's government was seeking a solution to the nuclear impasse ahead of the inauguration in January of US president-elect Donald Trump.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors on Thursday passed a resolution chiding Iran's poor co-operation with the agency, a move Tehran called "politically motivated".

The censure motion was brought forward by Britain, France, Germany and the US. In a joint statement, the four states, known as the Quad, on Saturday said: "For nearly five years now, Iran has consistently failed to implement the commitments it has made to the Agency."

"Despite the Director General’s [Rafael Grossi] continued efforts to engage in a substantive dialogue, Iran has not provided the information or co-operation needed to address them and has instead responded to the board’s calls with threats and provocations," they said.

Iran said on Friday it would launch a series of "new and advanced" centrifuges in response to the resolution, which may pave the way to additional sanctions against Iran, analyst told The National.

The Quad said it noted Iran's response with "serious concern".

It had been previously reported that Iran had offered to cap the expansion of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in exchange for the Quad dropping their resolution at the IAEA.

In 2018, the then-Trump administration exited Iran's 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to violate the pact's nuclear limits, with moves such as rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.

Indirect talks between President Joe Biden's administration and Tehran to try to revive the pact have failed, but Mr Trump said in his election campaign in September: "We have to make a deal, because the consequences are impossible. We have to make a deal."