Hi Bandung – Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, sought to increase pressure on the United States by presenting to European countries Tehran’s offer of highly enriched uranium reserves.
He also explained Iran’s plans regarding the management of the Strait of Hormuz in the future.
This step came after long negotiations in Islamabad which had not produced concrete results.
After the talks, Araghchi communicated with a number of officials from Europe and the Middle East, including representatives of France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.
He emphasized that diplomacy was still ongoing even though discussions continued intensely for more than 20 hours.
Europe Begins to Be Seen as a Balancer
In the last year, Iran’s relations with Europe have tended to become strained, especially because of US President Donald Trump’s policy of placing more emphasis on cooperation with Israel.
However, increasingly clear differences in attitudes between the US and Europe, combined with economic pressure, have made Tehran look again at Europe as a potential partner in negotiations.
European countries are now considering establishing a defensive maritime mission to maintain freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict subsides.
French President Emmanuel Macron even pushed for a follow-up meeting with Britain to discuss the plan.
Meanwhile, Iran is considering imposing tariffs on commercial ships passing through, even opening up the option of using cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions.
However, a number of analysts doubt the effectiveness of this policy.
Iran also expressed readiness to reduce uranium stockpiles as a signal of goodwill, although it still refuses to hand it over completely.***
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