Iran threatens to end nuclear talks with Europe over U.K. diplomat comments

Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday threatened to end all nuclear negotiations with European countries following a hard-line statement from the U.K.’s Washington ambassador on Tehran’s enrichment capabilities.

During remarks at the Atlantic Council on Tuesday, Britain’s U.S. Ambassador Peter Mandelson said his country is aligned with Washington’s position on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, asserting that it should be totally dismantled.

“Iran is vulnerable. But it still retains enrichment facilities that can produce a nuclear bomb. And we can’t accept that,” Mr. Mendelson said. “So Britain strongly supports [President Trump’s] initiative in negotiating away these enrichment and related facilities in Iran. We support what Steve Witkoff has been doing in his negotiations, which are making some progress.”

Iran is in talks with Germany, France and the U.K. to discuss possible limits to its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Mr. Mendelson’s comments enraged Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who threatened to end Tehran’s talks with European countries if the U.K. insists on advocating for the end of Iran’s enrichment program.

“If the U.K. position is ‘zero enrichment’ in Iran, there is nothing left for us to discuss on the nuclear issue,” Mr. Araghchi wrote on social media.

The issue of uranium enrichment has been a sticking point in the talks between U.S. and Iranian negotiators. Iran has publicly maintained its right to enrich uranium under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, from which Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. in 2018. After that, Iran began intensifying its enrichment program but has asserted that it’s purely for civilian use.

Mr. Araghchi added that if the U.K. pushes for the total dismantling of Iran’s enrichment infrastructure, it would be violating its commitments in the JCPA, which it signed in 2015.

“We continued our consultations with three European countries during this period, but if their position is zero enrichment, we will no longer have any talks with them about nuclear issues,” he told reporters. “They must determine their own position, and we are not joking with anyone on the issue of enrichment.”

Since negotiations began last month, U.S. officials have publicly pushed for an end to all of Iran’s enrichment programs in exchange for sanctions relief. Some have suggested that Iran could transfer its enriched uranium to a third party, a move that was rejected by Iranian officials.

While there is no set date for the next round of nuclear talks, some progress has been made. Iran has reportedly offered to lower its enrichment levels significantly on top of letting U.S. and U.N. investigators inspect domestic facilities.