SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and the United States expressed their “shared fundamental security interest in upholding the nuclear non-proliferation regime” for Iran when they met on Thursday, Britain said.
“Regarding Iran, the E3 and the United States expressed their shared fundamental security interest in upholding the nuclear non-proliferation regime and ensuring that Iran can never develop a nuclear weapon,” the foreign ministry said, according to Reuters.
The ministers also “expressed their shared concerns over Iran’s recent actions to produce both uranium enriched up to 20% and uranium metal,” it said in a statement.
Iran has accelerated its breaches of its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers in recent months, partly as demanded by a law passed in response to the killing in November of its top nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on its foe Israel.
The breaches began in 2019 in response to a U.S. withdrawal from the deal under then-President Donald Trump, and Iran is now locked in a standoff with President Joe Biden’s administration over who should move first to save the accord.
Tehran has set a deadline of next week for U.S. President Joe Biden to begin reversing sanctions imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump, or Iran will take its biggest step yet to violate the nuclear deal — banning short notice inspections by the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
Biden aims to restore the pact under which Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions, a major achievement of the Obama administration abandoned by Trump in 2018.
Tehran and Washington are at odds over who should make the first move to revive the agreement. Iran says the U.S. first must lift Trump’s sanctions, while Washington says Tehran must first return to compliance with the deal.
