Iran says it will hold talks with the European troika – France, Germany and Britain -- on leading regional issues, including the ongoing war in Palestine and Lebanon, and Iran’s nuclear program.
On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that deputy foreign ministers of Iran and the three European countries, also known as the E3, will meet on Friday.
He reaffirmed Iran’s principled stance on interaction and cooperation with other countries based on dignity, wisdom and interests.
He explained that the upcoming meeting with the three European countries will be a continuation of the talks held with the trio in September on the sidelines of the annual session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
"A range of regional and international issues and topics, including the issues of Palestine and Lebanon, as well as the nuclear issue, will be discussed," the Iranian spokesperson said.
On Thursday, the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution brought by the European troika that alleged Tehran had a poor cooperation with the agency and requested a "comprehensive" report on its nuclear activities "at the latest" by spring 2025.
In response to the latest politically-motivated resolution, Deputy Chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Friday that the country would activate a “series of new and advanced centrifuges.”
“After the resolution, we immediately started our remedial measures. We will significantly increase enrichment capacity,” Kamalvandi added.
In a joint statement released early on Friday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the AEOI said directives had been issued to "initiate the operation of a substantial number of advanced centrifuges of various models."
According to the statement, the measure, which is taken to safeguard Iran’s national interests and address its growing need for a civilian nuclear program, lies within the framework of the country’s rights and obligations under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.
The Friday meeting will take place as the Israeli regime continues its genocidal war against the people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip and atrocities in Lebanon.
More than 13 months of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza has so far claimed the lives of 44,211 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded 104,567 others.
The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the latest round of the regime’s conflict with the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah that broke out on October 8, 2023, has climbed to 3,670, with injuries rising to 15,413, said Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health on Saturday.