Move FM Global News

ISTANBUL, Turkey: Iran firmly dismissed proposals to extend a key United Nations resolution tied to the 2015 nuclear agreement as it entered high-stakes talks with European powers for the first time since being bombed by the United States and Israel last month.

The talks, held at the Iranian consulate in Istanbul on July 25, brought together diplomats from Iran, the European Union, and the so-called E3—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

The renewed dialogue comes as the clock ticks toward an October 18 expiration of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which underpins the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). That deal lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear activities. Although the United States exited the agreement in 2018, the E3 nations, along with China and Russia, remain committed to it.

If no action is taken before mid-September, all remaining U.N. sanctions on Iran—including those targeting the oil, banking, and defense sectors—will lapse. To prevent that, the E3 has set a late-August deadline to assess whether diplomacy can be revived and whether Iran is willing to make concessions in exchange for a six-month extension of the current framework.

Diplomatic sources say Western negotiators want Iran to take several key steps to keep the resolution alive: fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), open the door to future direct talks with the United States, and provide a detailed account of roughly 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, whose status and location have been uncertain since the June airstrikes.

But just before the talks began, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei Kani dismissed any discussion of extending the resolution as “baseless and meaningless.” Speaking to the state-run IRNA news agency, he reiterated Tehran’s opposition to altering the deal’s terms or timeline.

The current round of diplomacy follows a volatile period in U.S.-Iran relations. The two countries had held five rounds of indirect nuclear talks prior to June. Still, those were derailed after President Donald Trump ordered a series of airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, claiming they had “obliterated” Iran’s alleged bomb-making capabilities. Iran, for its part, has consistently denied pursuing nuclear weapons.

However, recent reports from NBC News, citing current and former U.S. officials, suggest the damage from the strikes may have been overstated. While one of the three targeted nuclear sites was significantly impacted, the other two reportedly suffered only limited destruction.

Despite the renewed talks in Istanbul, both European and Iranian diplomats say there is little hope for a breakthrough, especially on the question of U.S. re-engagement. For now, the path forward remains uncertain, with escalating tensions, diplomatic fatigue, and the looming expiration of the U.N. resolution all complicating the fragile balance.