reaffirms

The E3 nations meeting marks the first since Israel targeted Iran’s key nuclear and military sites in a 12-day war last month.

Iran has reaffirmed its right to enrich uranium on the eve of a key meeting with European powers threatening to reimpose nuclear sanctions.

Friday’s meeting, set to take place in Istanbul, will bring Iranian officials together with officials from Britain, France and Germany – known as the E3 nations – and will include the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.

It will be the first since Israel’s mid-June attack targeting key Iranian nuclear and military sites led to a 12-day war that ended in a ceasefire on June 24.

“Especially after the recent war, it is important for them [European countries] to understand that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s position remains unshakable, and that our uranium enrichment will continue,” the Tasnim news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying on Thursday.

The United States joined its ally Israel in the offensive, striking three Iranian nuclear facilities overnight between June 21 and 22.

Israel launched its attack on Iran just two days before Tehran and Washington were set to resume negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Thursday that Tehran would be prepared to engage in further talks on its nuclear programme with the US if Washington takes meaningful steps to rebuild trust.

In a social media post, Gharibabadi also said that for talks to take place with the US, Tehran would seek “several key principles” to be upheld.

These include “rebuilding Iran’s trust – as Iran has absolutely no trust in the United States”, he said, adding there could be no room “for hidden agendas such as military action, though Iran remains fully prepared for any scenario”.

Britain, France and Germany – alongside China, Russia and the US – are parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which placed major restrictions on its atomic activities in return for the gradual lifting of United Nations sanctions.

However, in 2018, the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement during Donald Trump’s first term as president and reimposed its own sanctions.

Britain, France and Germany maintained their support for the 2015 accord and sought to continue trade with Iran.

But they have since accused Tehran of failing to uphold its commitments and are threatening to reimpose sanctions under a clause in the agreement that expires in October – something Iran is eager to avoid.

The IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, says Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed country currently enriching uranium to 60 percent – far beyond the 3.67 percent cap set by the 2015 accord. Ninety percent enrichment is required for a nuclear weapon.

Western powers, led by the US and backed by Israel, have long accused Tehran of secretly seeking nuclear weapons.

Iran has repeatedly denied this, insisting its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes such as energy production.

Tehran and Washington had held five rounds of nuclear talks starting in April, but a planned meeting on June 15 was cancelled after Israel launched its strikes on Iran.

June 25 (UPI) — Following a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in The Hague Wednesday, the alliance announced its member nations have agreed to each invest 5% of their Gross Domestic Product toward defense.

“This is a significant commitment in response to significant threats to our security,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a press conference.

Rutte said the 5% breaks down to 3.5% of each country’s GDP invested in “core defense requirements” such as tanks, drones, ammunition and troops, among other items. The 1.5% remainder is to go into investments that will strengthen defense.

“All to ensure we can effectively deter aggression and defend ourselves, and each other, should anyone make the mistake of attacking,” Rutte added.

The previous financial benchmark for NATO was 2%, which has either been met or is expected to be met this year by all members.

“It means that no matter the challenges we face — whether from Russia or terrorism, cyberattacks, sabotage or strategic competition — this Alliance is and will remain ready, willing and able to defend every inch of Allied territory, said Rutte. “And ensure that our one billion people can continue to live in freedom and security.”

Rutte’s statements followed the meeting Wednesday, during which U.S. President Donald Trump reassured NATO allies Wednesday that the United States was fully committed to the defense alliance’s so-called Article 5 under which members pledge to come to the military defense of any NATO country that is attacked.

“We’re with them all the way,” Trump told a joint briefing with Secretary General Mark Rutte at a NATO summit in The Hague, responding to a question on his commitment to NATO and the mutual defense pact at its heart.

Trump added that he was happy to commit because other members of the 32-country alliance had heeded his long-standing call to ramp up their defense budgets and would now meet his demand that they spend 5% of GDP on defense.

“If you look at the numbers, I’ve been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years and they’re going up to 5%. That’s a big jump from 2% and a lot of people didn’t even pay the 2%, so I think it’s going to be very big news. NATO is going to become very strong with us and I appreciate doing it,” he said.

Earlier, Trump sparked consternation after comments made mid-Atlantic aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that his commitment to Article 5 “depends on your definition.”

The situation in the Middle East dominated most of the rest of the briefing, setting the tone for a gathering that alternated between shows of NATO unity and discussion of the U.S. strikes on Iran and how the situation would play out, despite not being on the agenda.

That left little room for the issue of Ukraine, which was relegated well down the agenda.

In his opening remarks to the leaders’ session Rutte did set out the challenges facing NATO, from Russia’s war on Ukraine and China’s “massive” military build-up to conflict in the Middle East, but hailed what he said were the historic, transformative decisions that would be made at the meeting to “make our people safer through a stronger, fairer and more lethal NATO.”

He said the additional funds from the 5% spending commitment would go toward bolstering “core” hard defense expenditure, as well as defense and security-related investments, and ensure every country contributed their fair share to the security umbrella NATO provided.

“For too long, one Ally, the United States, carried too much of the burden of that commitment. And that changes today,” Rutte said.

“President Trump, dear Donald, you made this change possible. Your leadership on this has already produced $1 trillion in extra spending from European Allies since 2016. And the decisions today will produce trillions more for our common defenses, to make us stronger and fairer by equalising spending between America and America’s allies.”

Shortly after the meeting ended, the NATO heads of state and government issued a joint communique reaffirming their commitment to NATO, the transatlantic bond and “ironclad commitment to collective defense as enshrined in Article 5” of the 1947 Washington Treaty.

“An attack on one is an attack on all.”

It said the leaders were united in the face of “profound security threats and challenges”, in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the persistent threat of terrorism allies had therefore committed to invest 5% of GDP in defense annually by 2035.

“Our investments will ensure we have the forces, capabilities, resources, infrastructure, warfighting readiness, and resilience needed to deter and defend in line with our three core tasks of deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security,” the declaration stated.

Members also reaffirmed a joint pledge to accelerate efforts to ramp up transatlantic defense-industrial cooperation, harness new technology and embrace out-of-the-box thinking on defense, as well as working to remove defense trade barriers between allies.