US, Germany, France and UK underline their concerns about “Iran’s nuclear escalation”. Top diplomats urge Iran to “change course”.
The foreign ministers of the US, Germany, France and Britain expressed concern over Iran’s nuclear program at the Munich Security Conference. The four top diplomats stressed their “concern” about “Iran’s nuclear escalation” and Tehran’s “lack of cooperation” with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to a statement distributed by the US State Department.
Antony Blinken (US), Annalena Baerbock (Germany), James Cleverly (UK) and Catherine Colonna (France) called on Iran to “change course”, according to the statement. The four foreign ministers agreed to continue to closely coordinate their dealings with the regime’s destabilizing activities. According to the statement, they also discussed “deepening mutual military cooperation” between Iran and Russia at their meeting.
Nuclear deal talks at deadlock
The West accuses Iran of, among other things, supplying drones to Russia for use in Ukraine. However, the leadership in Tehran says that the Iranian drones were handed over to Russia before the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine last February.
Negotiations with Iran on resuming the international nuclear deal, which started in April 2021, are currently at an impasse. The agreement, reached in 2015, was intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program and ensure that the country does not build nuclear weapons. It was negotiated by the US, China, Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain and Iran. Under then-US President Donald Trump, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed new sanctions on Tehran. As a result, Iran also gradually withdrew its obligations and restricted inspection of its facilities by the IAEA.