Iran Proposes Meeting with Europeans Before Next Talks with US, Diplomats Say 

The flags of the US and Iran hang on the road leading to the Muscat International Book fair on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
The flags of the US and Iran hang on the road leading to the Muscat International Book fair on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Iran Proposes Meeting with Europeans Before Next Talks with US, Diplomats Say 

The flags of the US and Iran hang on the road leading to the Muscat International Book fair on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
The flags of the US and Iran hang on the road leading to the Muscat International Book fair on April 25, 2025. (AFP)

Iran has proposed meeting the European parties to a 2015 nuclear deal possibly in Rome this Friday if talks resume with the United States, four diplomats said on Monday, cautioning that there has yet to be a response from the Europeans to the idea.

Iran is looking to build on the momentum of nuclear negotiations with the United States that resumed in Oman on Saturday and after talks with Russia and China last week.

Omani officials have said a new round of US-Iran talks could be held on May 3 in Europe. No formal decision has been taken.

Iran's reach out to Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, suggests Tehran is keeping its options open, but also wants to assess where the Europeans stand on the possible re-imposition of UN sanctions before October, when a resolution ratifying the 2015 accord expires.

Two E3 diplomats and a Western diplomat said Iran had communicated after last Saturday's talks with the United States a proposal to meet possibly in Rome on Friday.

Should that not be possible, the Iranians also suggested discussions in Tehran before that date, the diplomats said.

The second round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran took place in Rome with Iran saying serious differences remained.

An Iranian official confirmed the proposal, but said the E3 had not responded so far.

The European and Western diplomats said the E3 were assessing whether it was in their interest to meet Iran now or wait to see how talks with Washington developed, but ruled out a meeting in Tehran.

"It is important to remain on the same page with all parties to the 2015 deal. Therefore, meeting the E3 countries this week ahead of the next round of talks with Americans would be useful," said the Iranian official.

UN SANCTIONS DEADLINE

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday he was ready to travel to Europe for talks, although he suggested that the ball was in Europe's court after ties had soured between the two sides.

Since September, Tehran and the three European powers have met several times to discuss their ties and the nuclear issue.

The most recent meeting in March was held at the technical level, looking at the parameters of a future deal to secure a rollback of Iran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions.

Trump, who abandoned the 2015 pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

The West suspects Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, which it denies. The threat of renewed sanctions is intended to pressure Tehran into concessions, making detailed discussions on strategy between the Americans and Europeans vital, diplomats say.

Because the United States quit the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, it cannot initiate its mechanism for reimposing sanctions, called snapback, at the United Nations Security Council.

That makes the E3 the only participants in the deal who are capable of and interested in pursuing snapback.

When asked whether the proposal to meet Europeans was about snapback, the Iranian official indicated that was partly the aim.

"Talks with the US, particularly on the nuclear steps, are not moving fast and obviously we need more time and Tehran is not much in favor of an interim deal, because of lack of trust to American side," the official said.

"What if under an interim deal, we fulfil our step and the other party does not. We need Europeans to understand that we want a new deal and we are ready to take steps to limit our enrichment but we need time."

The British and German foreign ministries declined to comment specifically on whether Iran had proposed a meeting for later this week. France's foreign ministry did not immediately respond for comment.



Trump Offers to Join Potential Russia-Ukraine Talks in Türkiye

This combination of pictures created on May 12, 2025 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) during a press conference with the German Chancellor during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11, 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on May 12, 2025 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) during a press conference with the German Chancellor during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11, 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Offers to Join Potential Russia-Ukraine Talks in Türkiye

This combination of pictures created on May 12, 2025 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) during a press conference with the German Chancellor during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11, 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow on March 18, 2025. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on May 12, 2025 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) during a press conference with the German Chancellor during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11, 2024, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow on March 18, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump offered on Monday to join prospective Ukraine-Russia talks in Türkiye later this week as European countries pushed to get the Kremlin to accept their demand for a 30-day ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.

Trump spoke a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a fresh twist to the stop-start peace talks process, said he would travel to Istanbul where, he said, he would be waiting to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Trump told reporters at the White House that talks in Istanbul could be helpful and he might join them on Thursday while in the region. His current schedule has him visiting Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar this week.

"I've got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There's a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we've got to get it done," he said before departing for his second foreign trip since his second term in the White House began in January.

"Don't underestimate Thursday in Türkiye," he said.

In response to Trump's remarks, Zelenskiy said in a post on X: "I hope that the Russians will not evade the meeting. And of course, all of us in Ukraine would appreciate it if President Trump could be there with us at this meeting in Türkiye." He added that such participation was "the right idea".

Earlier on Monday, the German government said Europe will start preparing new sanctions against Russia unless the Kremlin by the end of the day starts abiding by a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine.

Ukraine's military said Russia had conducted dozens of attacks along the front in eastern Ukraine on Monday as well as an overnight assault using more than 100 drones, despite the ceasefire proposal by Europe and Kyiv.

"The clock is ticking," a German government spokesperson said at a news conference in Berlin.

It is not clear though how much impact fresh European sanctions would have on Russia, especially if the United States does not join in as well.

The leaders of four major European powers travelled to Kyiv on Saturday and demanded an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from Monday. Putin, implicitly rejecting the offer, instead proposed direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul that he said could potentially lead to a ceasefire.

The Kremlin has not responded to that latest proposal. Putin and Zelenskiy have not met since December 2019 - over two years before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine - and make no secret of their contempt for each other.

Responding to the proposal of a ceasefire, Russia said at the weekend it is committed to ending the war but that European powers were using the language of confrontation.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia was "completely ignoring" the ceasefire initiative, citing what he said were continued attacks on Ukrainian forces.

He said he shared information about the continued fighting with European partners and with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a joint phone call. The allies had agreed sanctions would be needed to pressure Russia if it snubbed the truce move.

Russia and Ukraine are both trying to show Trump that they are working towards his objective of reaching a rapid peace in Ukraine, while trying to make the other look like the spoiler to his efforts.

FIGHTING CONTINUES

The Ukrainian military's general staff said that as of 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Monday there had been 69 clashes with Russian forces along the front line since midnight, when the ceasefire was to have come into effect.

The intensity of the fighting was at the same level it would be if there were no ceasefire, said Viktor Trehubov, a spokesperson for the military on Ukraine's eastern front.

The Ukrainian air force said Ukraine came under attack overnight from 108 long-range combat drones starting from 11 p.m. (2000 GMT), an hour before the proposed ceasefire was due to kick in. Attacks of this kind unfold over the course of hours as drones fly much slower than missiles.

Russia also launched guided bombs at targets in the northeastern Kharkiv region and the northern Sumy region, the air force said, while the Ukrainian state railway company said a Russian drone hit a civilian freight train in the east.

Kyiv is desperate to unlock more of the US military backing it received from Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. Moscow senses an opportunity to get relief from a barrage of economic sanctions and engage with the world's biggest economy.

Europe meanwhile is doing its best to preserve good relations with Trump despite his imposition of tariffs, hoping it can persuade him to swing more forcefully behind Ukraine's cause, which they see as central to the continent's security.