Geneva hosts Iran–EU talks as Tehran vows sanctions removal ‘main goal’

The Cradle, January 13, 2025 —

The UK, France, and Germany have recently taken a firm position against Iran’s nuclear program and have threatened a renewal of sanctions.

The Swiss government is hosting talks between Iran and a number of European countries, including France, Germany, and the UK, regarding the Iranian nuclear program. 

This is the second round of talks, coming after a first round of secret meetings in Switzerland’s capital, Geneva, according to an AFP report. 

A German official told the outlet that the talks are just “consultations” and “are not negotiations.”

They are set to begin on 13 January and will continue the following day. According to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, the meetings will cover a “wide range of topics,” with the “primary objective” being removing sanctions on Iran. He added that Tehran is also “listening to the … topics that the opposite parties want to raise.”

The French Foreign Ministry said last week that the talks are a sign that the Europeans are still working toward a diplomatic solution for Iran’s “problematic” nuclear program. 

The talks follow a statement by French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month saying that Iran’s nuclear program has exceeded the acceptable threshold and that Tehran has become the leading challenge for the region, France, and Europe. 

The UK, France, and Germany last month accused Iran of enriching uranium to 60 percent purity and warned that they are prepared to reinstate the “snapback mechanism,” an automatic and unilateral imposition of sanctions against the Islamic Republic via the UN Security Council. 

The mechanism was built into the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the US, which US President-elect Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018 during his first term, reimposing harsh sanctions against Tehran.

Late last year, the EU increased its sanctions on the Iranian drone and missile programs. Western sanctions have taken a heavy toll on the civilian population and everyday life in Iran.

The meetings also come after recent reports in western media that the outgoing US government recently held talks on potential options for preemptive airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, and as many speculate that Trump is planning to reinstate his aggressive “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran upon his return to the White House later this month. 

Contradicting accusations from Israel and western nations that Iran is enriching uranium for the purposes of nuclear weapon development, outgoing CIA director William Burns stated in an interview on 10 January that Tehran is not looking to weaponize its atomic energy program. 

“The Iranian regime could decide in the face of that weakness that it needs to restore its deterrence as it sees it and, you know, reverse the decision made at the end of 2003 (an oral fatwa issued by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei) to suspend their weaponization program,” he said. 

“We do not see any sign today that any such decision has been made, but we obviously watch it intently,” the CIA director added. 

Iranian officials have recently shifted rhetoric on their nuclear policy – which is based on a religious fatwa against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Iran has for decades been a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). 

“​​Withdrawing from the NPT … to defend the country’s national interests is a serious idea,” said Aladdin Boroujerdi, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, last month. “Of course, its implementation ultimately requires the parliament’s approval.”

Head of Iran’s Strategic Council for Foreign Policy and advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Kamal Kharrazi, stated in an interview with Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen in early November that the Islamic Republic may change its nuclear doctrine “if the nation faces an existential threat.”

“We now have the technical capabilities necessary to produce nuclear weapons, and we have no problem with that, while the fatwa of the leader of the revolution and the Islamic Republic, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, is the only thing that prevents that,” Kharrazi claimed.