The Europeans’ concern over Iran's nuclear programme has only grown since Tehran cut off all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,
Euronews reports.
Representatives of three European countries threatening to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme failed to agree with their Iranian counterpart on Tuesday on how to avoid the measures days ahead of a deadline, a diplomat said.
The discussions in Geneva among representatives of France, Germany and the United Kingdom "ended without a final outcome," said the diplomat with knowledge of the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly about the talks.
The diplomat said efforts would continue to find a solution ahead of a deadline at the end of this month to invoke the so-called snapback mechanism of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal over what the countries have deemed Iran's lack of compliance.
The snapback would mean a return to wide-ranging UN sanctions in place before the deal, including a conventional arms embargo, restrictions on ballistic missile development, asset freezes, travel bans and a ban on producing nuclear-related technology.
The meeting among the E3 countries and Iran was announced by the spokesperson of the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday.
The talks follow a previous meeting between the Europeans and Iran in Istanbul on 25 July.
The Europeans' concern over the Iranian nuclear programme, which had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels before the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict in June saw its atomic sites bombed, has only grown since Tehran cut off all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
That has left the international community further in the dark about the status of Iran’s nuclear activities, as well as its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% purity, a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Iran has long insisted its program is peaceful, though it is the only non-nuclear-armed nation enriching uranium at that level.
