Iran has agreed in principle to resume nuclear negotiations with Germany, France, and the United Kingdom—collectively known as the E3 or the Eurotroika—marking the first potential diplomatic engagement between Tehran and Western governments since last month’s 12-day war involving Israel and the United States.
Iran’s state-affiliated media outlet Tasnim reported on Sunday that Tehran and the E3 reached a preliminary understanding on the continuation of nuclear talks. While both sides are reportedly in agreement to proceed, no date or location for the talks has yet been finalized.
If held, the meeting would be the first formal discussion between Iran and the E3 since November 2024, and Iran’s first official talks with any Western nation since the 12-day war with Israel and subsequent U.S. airstrikes on 3 of Iran’s nuclear facilities. However, Tehran remains unwilling to engage with Washington directly, citing a lack of security guarantees after Israeli forces, with U.S. backing, carried out strikes on Iranian territory on June 13, just 48 hours before a scheduled sixth round of talks between Iran and the U.S.
The E3 are original signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which provided sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. Since the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, the European powers have continued to push for the agreement's revival. Negotiations were reignited in 2021, but have no yielded any results.
The original JCPOA framework was set to expire after 10 years, with a critical provision—the so-called “snapback mechanism”—allowing the E3 to reimpose pre-2015 sanctions should Iran be found in violation. That clause expires on October 18, 2025. Tehran has repeatedly warned that should the E3 invoke the snapback mechanism, it will exit the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Earlier this month Iran enacted a law suspending Iran’s cooperation with the agency, which Tehran accuses of leaking sensitive nuclear-related information—including the identities of Iranian scientists—to Israeli intelligence.