Senior Diplomats from Iran and the EU to Hold Nuclear Talks

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — European foreign ministers are set to meet with their Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, on Friday to discuss the country's nuclear program amid an escalating conflict with Israel.

The meeting comes just a week after Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on Iranian targets, citing intelligence that Tehran was nearing the development of a nuclear weapon—a claim Iran continues to deny. In response, Iranian forces retaliated, prompting a new wave of hostilities and missile exchanges between the two nations.

Israel's military confirmed overnight strikes on several locations in Tehran, including what it described as a "center for the research and development of Iran's nuclear weapons project." Meanwhile, sirens sounded in Israel after missile launches from Iran, with emergency services responding to projectile impacts in a southern city.

European leaders have since stepped up their efforts to de-escalate the conflict. Friday’s scheduled talks are seen as a crucial step toward renewing diplomatic engagement with Tehran and potentially reviving aspects of the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran has been enriching uranium to 60 percent—well above the JCPOA’s 3.67 percent limit, though still below the 90 percent required for a nuclear warhead. Western powers, including the United States and Israel, have long accused Iran of seeking atomic weapons, a charge Tehran firmly denies.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, has said he will decide "within the next two weeks" whether the United States will take a more active role in the current conflict.

With the region on edge, Friday’s nuclear talks represent a rare diplomatic opening—one that European officials hope can steer both Iran and Israel away from the brink of a wider war.