By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) -France, Britain and Germany told Iran on Thursday that they wanted Tehran to resume diplomacy immediately over its nuclear programme and warned if there were no concrete steps by the end of the summer they would restore U.N. sanctions.
The foreign ministers of the so-called E3, along with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, held their first call with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi since Israel and the United States carried out air strikes in mid-June on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Speaking after the call, a French diplomatic source said the ministers had called on Iran to resume diplomatic efforts immediately to reach a “verifiable and lasting” nuclear deal.
The three countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 deal with Iran that lifted sanctions on the country in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme.
A U.N. Security Council resolution which enshrines the deal expires on October 18 and under its terms U.N. sanctions can be re-imposed beforehand. The process would take about 30 days.
The Europeans have repeatedly warned that unless there is a new nuclear accord they will launch the “snapback mechanism”, which would restore all previous U.N. sanctions on Iran if it is found to be in violation of the agreement’s terms.
“The ministers also reiterated their determination to use the so-called ‘snapback’ mechanism in the absence of concrete progress toward such an agreement by the end of the summer,” the diplomatic source said.
The source did not elaborate what concrete progress would entail.
Since the air strikes, inspectors from the U.N. atomic watchdog have left Iran. While Iran has suggested it is open to diplomacy, there are no indications a sixth round of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran will resume imminently.
Diplomats say that even if they were to resume talks, reaching a comprehensive accord before the end of August – the final deadline the Europeans have given – seems unrealistic, especially without inspectors on the ground to assess Iran’s remaining nuclear programme.
Two European diplomats said they hoped to coordinate strategy with the United States in the coming days with a view to possibly holding talks with Iran soon.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Leslie Adler and Nia Williams)
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