France, Iran Agree to Seek Conditions to Resume Talks

“The President of the Republic has agreed with his Iranian counterpart to explore by July 15 conditions to resume dialogue between the parties,” Macron’s office said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The statement added Macron would keep on talking with Iranian authorities and other involved parties to “engage in a de-escalation of tensions related to Iranian nuclear issue.”

Rouhani and Macron held a phone conversation on Saturday evening and discussed the latest developments around the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

Rouhani told Macron, whose country is a party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that there was a need for the European Union to observe its responsibilities vis-à-vis international agreements and to act to protect the JCPOA.

For his part, Macron said during the phone call that he has strongly opposed Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA since it took place last year.

The telephone conversation came one day before Iran’s 60-day deadline for the European signatories to the deal to meet their end of the bargain.

On Sunday, Tehran will begin to enrich uranium beyond limits set by the nuclear accord.

In the second phase of scaling down its JCPOA commitments, Iran plans to increase the purity of its enriched uranium on Sunday, no longer sticking to the 3.67% limit it had agreed to in the deal.

Back in May, Iran notified the remaining partners in the nuclear deal that it would suspend the implementation of some of its commitments in reaction to the US’ unilateral withdrawal and Europe’s failure to live up to its commitments.

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