French President Emmanuel Macron was convening key ministers and experts on Wednesday to discuss Iran, including its nuclear program, amid growingtensionsbetween Tehran and U.S.
President Donald Trump, three diplomatic sources said.Trump, who has urged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to engage immediately in negotiations, threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if it did not come to an agreement over itsnuclear program.Diplomatic sources said ministers from France, Britain and Germany were hoping to discuss the Iran dossier with U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio when they convene in Brussels for a NATO ministerial meeting this week.Trump withdrew the U.S.
from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Trump also reimposed sweeping U.S.
sanctions.Since then,Iran has far surpassedthat deal's limits on uranium enrichment.France, Britain and Germany have sought in recent months to raise pressure on Iran in a bid to coax it back into discussions over its nuclear program.They have held several rounds of talks with Iran including at technical level last week, to try to lay the groundwork for some form of agreement.But the Trump administration has focused initially on a campaign of "maximum pressure", and the Europeans have found coordination complicated, diplomats say.The European powers had hoped to convince Iran to begin negotiating new restrictions on its nuclear activities with a view to having a deal by August at the latest.That would give enough time to set new limits for Iran's program and lift sanctions before the 2015 accord expires inOctober 2025.(European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal have refused to lift financial and economic sanctions on Iran since Trump quit the deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May 2018.
Iran even remained fully loyal to the nuclear agreement for a full complete year, giving the Europeans the time to honor their commitments.
Even when Iran started to gradually lift restrictions on its nuclear program (May 2019), it said it will reverse its decision if Europeans honor their obligations.
However, the European parties to deal remained passive and obedient to the U.S.
and have done nothing so far)