Iran’s top diplomat said Sunday his country was ready to rebuild trust with European powers considering whether to reimpose UN sanctions on the Islamic republic under a 2015 nuclear deal.
‘Iran is ready, should it observe genuine will and an independent approach from the European parties, to begin a new chapter in its relations with Europe,’ said foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
‘If Europe possesses the necessary will to rectify this path, Iran sees no obstacle to rebuilding mutual trust and expanding relations,’ he told a diplomatic forum in Tehran.
On Friday, senior Iranian diplomats met with counterparts from Britain, France and Germany for talks on the status of US-Iran nuclear negotiations.
Tehran has held four rounds of Oman-mediated nuclear talks with Washington, the highest-level contact between the two foes since the US abandoned a 2015 nuclear accord.
US president Donald Trump effectively torpedoed the deal in 2018 during his first term, by unilaterally pulling out and reimposing sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and banking sector.
A year later, Iran began rolling back its commitments to the agreement, which had offered sanctions relief in return for UN-monitored restrictions on its nuclear activities.
The three European powers — party to the 2015 accord — are weighing whether to trigger ‘snapback’ mechanism, which would reinstate UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance. That option expires in October.
Araghchi earlier this month warned of ‘irreversible’ consequences if Britain, France and Germany moved to reimpose sanctions.
The minister had previously proposed visiting London, Paris and Berlin for discussions on the nuclear issue as well as other areas ‘of mutual interest and concern’.
In his speech on Sunday, he urged the Europeans to focus more on shared interests rather than differences.
Iran and Azerbaijan have launched a joint special forces exercise, state media in the Islamic republic said Sunday, weeks after Iran’s president visited the neighbouring country.
The ‘Aras-2025’ exercise, running through May 21, involves Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Azerbaijani troops, the IRNA news agency reported.
The drill was being held in areas of Karabakh previously disputed with Armenia before Azerbaijan regained control in September 2023.
‘This drill is a key step in boosting border security and confronting potential threats,’ said Brigadier General Vali Madani of the Guards’ ground forces.
Last month, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian made a rare visit to Baku, where he met his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev.
‘Iran will make efforts to ensure that its relations with Azerbaijan are strategic across all spheres,’ Pezeshkian said at the time.
Ties between the two neighbours were strained over Azerbaijan’s close security cooperation with Israel and a deadly 2023 attack on its embassy in Tehran.
Baku reopened the embassy in mid-2024 and the attacker was sentenced to death.
Tehran has been strongly opposed to the so-called Zangezur corridor linking Azerbaijan to Turkey which would run along Iran’s border with Armenia.
In November, the two countries held a joint naval exercise in the Caspian Sea.
