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Iran to Meet 3 European Powers Ahead of Next Nuclear Talks With US
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS
Iran will hold talks in Rome on Friday with European parties to their now moribund 2015 nuclear deal, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, as both sides seek to position themselves ahead of a new round of US-Iranian negotiations on Saturday.
Reuters reported on Monday that Tehran had proposed meeting Britain, France, and Germany, collectively known as the E3, who stuck to the 2015 deal meant to curb Iran‘s nuclear activity, which unraveled in 2018 when US President Donald Trump walked out of it during his first term in the White House.
“In my opinion, the three European countries have lost their role [in the nuclear file] due to the wrong policies they have adopted. Of course, we do not want this and are ready to hold talks with them in Rome,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state media on Wednesday.
There was initial hesitation within the E3 over concern such talks could create a parallel track and hijack the negotiations pursued by Trump’s second administration that Washington says aim to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons.
But three European diplomats told Reuters that the E3 decided it was ultimately in their interest to maintain dialogue with Iran and reaffirm how they envisaged the parameters of a new nuclear deal.
Foreign ministry political directors were meeting US officials in Berlin on Wednesday to be briefed on previous rounds of US-Iranian talks and prepare for the Rome meeting, and will head there on Friday, two diplomats said.
Iran is looking to build on the momentum of nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration that resumed in Oman on Saturday and after its talks with Russia and China last week. US and Iranian negotiators will reconvene in Rome on Saturday.
Iran‘s approach to the E3 suggests it is keeping its options open but also wants to assess where the Europeans stand on the possible reimposition of United Nations sanctions against Tehran before October, known in diplomatic circles as the “snapback mechanism,” when a resolution ratifying the 2015 accord expires.
EUROPEAN–IRANIAN TENSIONS
Relations between the E3 and Iran have worsened over the last year despite sporadic meetings since last September against a backdrop of new sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic over its ballistic missile program, its detention of foreign citizens, and support for Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Highlighting those tensions, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday that Paris would not think twice if the current negotiations failed about launching the snapback of sanctions, which he said would have “devastating effects.”
He accused Tehran of being on the cusp of covertly developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has long denied this, saying its accelerating uranium enrichment program is only for civilian energy purposes.
In a letter distributed to the UN Security Council and seen by Reuters, Iran‘s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said Barrot’s comments were “unfounded and politically irresponsible.”
He said that applying the snapback would be “legally and procedurally flawed, inadmissible, and invalid.”
“[Barrot’s] open threat to reimpose sanctions with ‘devastating effects’ on Iran’s economy constitutes a blatant act of political and economic coercion,” the letter said.
On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on what it described as a network based in Iran and China suspected of procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients for Iran‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Araqchi said the fresh US sanctions during negotiations sent the “wrong message.”
Trump has said he is confident of clinching a new pact that would block Iran‘s path to nuclear bomb capability.
The post Iran to Meet 3 European Powers Ahead of Next Nuclear Talks With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.