France, Germany and UK urge renewed Iran-US nuclear talks
A troika of European powers which triggered the reimposition of international sanctions on Iran last month called on Friday for Tehran to resume nuclear talks with Washington.
A troika of European powers which triggered the reimposition of international sanctions on Iran last month called on Friday for Tehran to resume nuclear talks with Washington.
“We are determined to reinitiate negotiations with Iran and the United States towards a comprehensive, durable and verifiable agreement that ensures Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon,” the three European countries — France, Germany and Britain said in a joint statement.
They at the same time defended their decision to reimpose the UN sanctions on Tehran via the so-called snapback mechanism over Tehran's non-compliance with its nuclear obligations, urging all UN member states to enforce sanctions on Iran.
The reimposition of restrictions was the right step to address the threat posed by Tehran’s nuclear program, they said.
“We call on all UN member states to abide by the restrictions reapplied by the snapback mechanism,” they said.
The three countries invoked the measure in August, just two months after Israeli and US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, accusing Iran of failing to comply with its nuclear obligations, beginning a 30-day process that culminated in the sanctions' return.
US President Donald Trump earlier this year gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to reach a nuclear deal, demanding it end all domestic uranium enrichment. Tehran denies seeking a weapon and sees enrichment as a right.
On June 13, the 61st day since talks began, Israel launched a surprise military campaign which killed nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians.
On the ninth day of fighting, the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear sites which US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said "obliterated" the country's nuclear program.
The 12-day war ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24 but talks between Washington and Tehran have yet to resume.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly last month that Iran remains open to dialogue but that “the wall of distrust with Washington is quite thick and quite tall.”
Iran’s Afsaneh Nadipour and China’s Ren Yisheng were among seven experts selected on Tuesday for the council’s advisory committee, which is tasked with providing guidance on human rights issues.
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said the new appointments were “ludicrous,” questioning how governments accused of severe abuses could advise the UN on human rights.
"How do you expect countries such as China and Iran to advise this organization on human rights?” he wrote on X, adding that “one is exporting terrorism and jailing women, and the other is throwing ethnic minorities in concentration camps.”
Hillel Neuer, chief of pro-Israel watchdog UN Watch, told Fox News Digital that the United Nations “elected Beijing’s and Tehran’s loyal agents as ‘human rights experts’—without a ballot, without shame,” saying both “persecute minorities, jail anyone who speaks freely, and rule through fear and censorship.”
Iranian-American activist Lawdan Bazargan condemned Nadipour’s selection, calling it “a slap in the face to the courageous women of Iran.”
“She has served a regime that forces hijab, allows child marriage and imprisons women’s rights activists,” Bazargan wrote on X.
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the hawkish Washington-based thinktank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), also condemned the move in a post on X. “The Islamic Republic has been elected to the UN ‘Human Rights’ Council. The UN is a blight on humanity,” he wrote.
According to Amnesty International, China was the world’s leading executioner in 2024, followed by Iran in second place.
Amnesty said while Beijing keeps its execution figures secret, Iran was responsible for at least 972 executions last year—about 64 percent of the total of 1,518 executions globally.
This month, Iran has executed 72 people in the first nine days of October, bringing the total number of executions this year to at least 1,172.
In addition to executions, rights groups have documented widespread suppression of free speech and assembly in Iran, where activists, journalists and minorities face arbitrary detention.
In China, rights groups including Amnesty International have documented mass incarceration of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, along with systematic censorship and repression of dissent.