The US attacks on Iran on Sunday night came immediately after the Europeans' efforts to get the nuclear talks back on track. While the latter had ‘closely coordinated’ their Geneva initiative with the USA, the USA apparently ignored the Europeans completely. Not even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had been informed in advance. The US government only got in touch after the strikes.

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Merz convened a security cabinet

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Merz convened the federal government's security cabinet on Sunday morning. According to government spokesman Stefan Kornelius, the chancellor reiterated the call on Iran to “immediately start negotiations with the USA and Israel and reach a diplomatic solution to the conflict.” On Friday evening, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU), together with his colleagues from France and Great Britain (E3) and the High Representative of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, had discussed dialogue solutions with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghtschi. Little information about this came to the public from the western side.

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However, at the request of diplo.news, Iran's ambassador to Germany, Majid Nili, commented on the meeting, which he had personally attended.

Just a few hours before the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, Nili announced that his country was ready to “meet again in the near future.”

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The ambassador described the talks as “serious and open.” He underlined that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had expressed “serious concern” from the Islamic Republic of Iran because there had been no “condemnation of the aggressive actions of the Zionist regime by the three European states.”

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The diplomat quoted his foreign minister, who had stressed that Iran would continue its legitimate right of self-defense against Israel with determination and insistence — “with the aim of stopping the attacks and preventing them from recurring.” He had also underlined that the Iranian nuclear program was peaceful and was supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency. An attack on Iran's nuclear facilities is therefore a serious crime and constitutes a blatant violation of international law.

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According to Nili, Araghchi nonetheless assured during the Geneva talks that Iran is “fundamentally prepared to consider diplomatic routes — in the event of an end to the aggression and accountability of the perpetrators for their crimes.” However, Iran's defense capabilities are by no means negotiable.

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“Close coordination” unilaterally

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According to the Federal Foreign Office, the aim of the meeting in Switzerland was to get back into serious negotiations in order to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The E3 diplomatic initiative was closely coordinated with the USA. America's entry into the war against Iran, however, took place without notice to the European partners.

Iran requested a special session of the UN Security Council with the aim of condemning the US action against Iran. The Iranian UN delegation criticized the US bombing as “baseless and deliberately planned aggression.”

Eko

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