U.S., European officials to discuss Iran on Friday in Paris -sources

PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. special envoy for Iran will meet British, French and German diplomats in Paris on Friday to discuss stalled efforts to get Iran to resume compliance with the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, three diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

While saying for weeks it would return to talks “soon,” Iran has yet to announce a date to resume discussions in Vienna about reviving the pact under which it curbed its nuclear program in return for relief from U.S., EU and U.N. economic sanctions. Then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the pact in 2018 and reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions. About a year later, Iran started violating some of the deal’s limits on uranium enrichment. Enriching uranium can provide a path to obtain the fissile material for an atomic bomb, an ambition Iran denies.

The diplomatic sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley would meet with the political directors of the British, French and German foreign ministries, a group know as the E3, in Paris on Friday. One of the sources said he hoped the meeting would provide some clarity on how world powers might act in the coming weeks if Iran continued to “buy time” and delay returning to Vienna. U.S. officials have said time is running out to revive the deal.