Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon August 14, 2020. Photo: Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran will soon present a “constructive” plan of action, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday, after European sources said Tehran gave positive signs about opening informal talks about its nuclear program.
“As Iran‘s FM (foreign minister) & chief nuclear negotiator, I will shortly present our constructive concrete plan of action — through proper diplomatic channels,” Zarif said on Twitter.
A French diplomatic source and another European source said on Thursday that Iran had given encouraging signs in recent days about opening the informal talks after European powers scrapped plans to criticize Tehran at the UN nuclear watchdog.
Iran has so far refused to take part in a meeting brokered by the European Union between world powers and the United States on reviving its 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran‘s nuclear policy is decided by the country’s top authority, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and not the president or the government.
Tehran and Washington have been locked in a standoff over who should move first to revive Iran’s nuclear deal, after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord in 2018.
Britain, France and Germany decided to pause the submission of a resolution critical of Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday to not harm the prospects for diplomacy, after what they said were concessions gained from Iran.
