Iranian and European ministers will hold nuclear talks in New York on Tuesday, a French diplomatic source said, after the UN Security Council voted to reimpose sanctions over Tehran's atomic program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has until the end of Saturday to reach a deal with his British, French, German and EU counterparts to avoid the reinstatement of UN sanctions, which had been suspended under a deal signed in 2015.
The meeting, on the sidelines of the United Nations' signature high-level week, is scheduled for 10:00 am local time (1400 GMT), a diplomatic source told AFP.
Iran and the Europeans blame each other for the failure of diplomatic efforts to reach a new agreement on Tehran's nuclear program, long a rancorous sticking point between the two sides.
European countries and the United States suspect the Iranian government of seeking to acquire the atomic bomb. Tehran has vigorously denied that, insisting it has a right to civilian nuclear energy.
The European side has set three conditions to extend the sanction relief period to allow more time for negotiations on a comprehensive treaty.
They include the resumption of direct negotiations without preconditions, full access for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Iranian nuclear sites, and accurate information on the location of enriched materials.
The European side believes that none of the conditions have been met.
Tehran accuses the European powers of exerting political pressure that undermines negotiations and claims to have produced a "balanced" proposal, the details of which have not been disclosed.
With AFP
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