Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi warned Tuesday that reimposing international sanctions on his country would further complicate efforts to resolve the standoff over its nuclear program, according to state media.
He was speaking ahead of a meeting on Friday with three European states known as the E3 – Britain, France and Germany.
The E3 have said that if no progress is reached by the end of August over Iran's nuclear program, they will invoke a "snapback" mechanism – a process that would reimpose U.N. sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under a 2015 deal in return for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.
"We will express our position regarding the E3's comments on the snapback mechanism, which we think lacks any legal ground," Gharibabadi said, referring to Friday's meeting in Istanbul.
"Nonetheless, our effort will be to see if we can find common solutions to manage the situation."
The three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal – from which the United States withdrew in 2018.
"It has been seven years that the nuclear deal is not being implemented by the Europeans following the U.S. departure from it. How can they argue that Iran is not following the deal when they themselves have not done so?" Gharibabadi added.
Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear programme is solely meant for civilian purposes.
Gharibabadi's comments came a day after Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told U.S. broadcaster Fox News that Iran intends to continue its nuclear enrichment program.
"We cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride," Araghchi told Fox News. "Our enrichment is so dear to us."
Israel attacked Iran on June 13, bombing targets across the country. The Israeli government cited Tehran's controversial nuclear program as justification and its suspicions that Iran plans to build a nuclear bomb.
After 12 days of war, during which the U.S. dropped its most powerful conventional weapons on a key Iranian nuclear site, a cease-fire is now in place.
Araghchi said Iran's nuclear facilities had been "seriously" damaged in the U.S. strikes and all enrichment capabilities had ceased for the time being.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he would "absolutely" consider bombing Iran again if the country enriched uranium to a higher level.
