European leaders issued a call to Iran to return to the negotiating table on nuclear talks at an emergency summit of the bloc as the Iran-Israel war escalated.
Diplomacy is the best way to avoid Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb, the EU's foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday, after the video call with the bloc's 27 ministers to discuss co-ordination efforts in evacuating their citizens from the region.
“We all agreed the urgent need for de-escalation. Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, and diplomacy is the solution to prevent this, and (the) EU will play its part,” Ms Kallas said. “I will spare no effort in this respect.”
Ms Kallas said that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had exchanged views with foreign ministers from Germany, France and the UK – three European nations that took part in the failed 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
All participants in Monday's call agreed that “the diplomatic solution is the only one for the Iran nuclear programme”, she said.
Europe must play a “bigger role” now that US-Iran talks “have been hindered”, Ms Kallas added – an apparent reference to the cancellation of the latest round of Oman-mediated talks on Sunday, two days after Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran. The EU was not involved in those meetings.
During the call, Europeans jointly told Mr Araghchi that Iran should “return to the table of negotiations as fast as possible”, French diplomatic sources said. They called on Iran to not attack western interests in the Middle East and to avoid a “nuclear escalation”.
This includes Iran fully co-operating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a warning not to exit the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. French, British and German ministers also separately told Israel that it should avoid attacking civilian infrastructure in Iran, according to French sources.
The three European countries are “available to restart serious discussions” with Iran as soon as a ceasefire is reached with Israel, French President Emmanuel Macron said, speaking from a group of Seven meeting in Canada on Monday.
France is ready to pursue technical meetings with Iran, which had been continuing before the start of the latest escalation with Israel, in order to avoid the reinstatement of the so-called “snapback mechanism” in October, Mr Macron added. The mechanism would reactivate international sanctions that had been suspended by the nuclear deal.
Relations between Iran and the E3 were tense even before the recent Iran-Israel escalations after Europeans pushed for a resolution passed at the IAEA board earlier this month which found Iran guilty of non-compliance with its so-called safeguards obligations.
Meanwhile, Israel has signalled to Europe that it may escalate strikes on Iran. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X that he had told Ms Kallas: “I stressed that we did not finish the job and will act to complete it.” Mr Katz also said that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could face the same fate as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a US-led invasion and was eventually hanged after a trial.
So far, Iranian officials have reported 224 deaths, mostly civilians, while Israel said 24 civilians had been killed.
European countries have overall defended Israel's right to defend itself in the light of Iran's nuclear programme, which they have described as posing an existential threat both to Israel and Europe.
Up to now, Ms Kallas had been widely viewed as having taken a step back from the mediating role endorsed in the past decades by the EU's foreign affairs chief between Iran and the rest of the world on its nuclear programme.
Mr Trump on Tuesday said that that his administration has not reached out to Iranian officials for peace talks. He has previously said that the US could possibly get involved in the war to support Israel's military offensive. Asked to comment on a possible US intervention, Ms Kallas said it would “definitely drag the region into a broader conflict”.
Ms Kallas added that she had received reassurances from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Washington was not looking to join in Israel's attacks on Iran. “This is in nobody's interest,” she said.
