PARIS – France’s top diplomat spoke to his Iranian counterpart on Saturday and urged Iran to be “constructive” and avoid a new nuclear escalation ahead of next week’s talks with the aim of trying to save a global deal that restricts Iran’s nuclear program.
The United States and Iran said on Friday that they will start indirect negotiations next week, in one of the first signs of progress in efforts to try to get the two countries back to the 2015 agreement. Then President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in 2018, and Iran has consistently violated its restrictions since then.
Diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran will participate in Tuesday’s EU-mediated negotiations in Vienna. These six countries remained in the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which linked Iran to nuclear restrictions in exchange for relief from American and international sanctions.
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian spoke on Saturday with Iran’s Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif to prepare for negotiations.
“I encouraged Iran to be constructive,” said Le Drian in a statement. “I asked Iran to refrain from any further breaches of its current nuclear commitments that could threaten the movement to resume discussions.”
Iran insists it is not trying to make nuclear bombs.
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President Biden took office saying that resuming the nuclear deal and placing Iran’s nuclear program under international restrictions was a priority for his American government. Iran wants sanctions to be lifted first.