Tehran announced on Saturday that it sees “no reason” to resume negotiations with European countries over its nuclear program, after France, Britain, and Germany confirmed on Friday their “determination” to revive them.

At the initiative of this European troika, the United Nations reimposed sanctions on Iran on September 28 due to its nuclear program, following the failure of negotiations to reach a settlement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi questioned on state television: “What can they do and what positive outcome can these negotiations lead to? We really see no reason to negotiate with them.”

In a joint statement on Friday, the European troika countries affirmed, “We are determined to revive negotiations with Iran and the United States to reach a comprehensive, lasting, and verifiable agreement that ensures Iran never acquires nuclear weapons.”

They added, “We see the activation of the snapback sanctions mechanism as justified,” considering that “Iran’s nuclear program poses a serious threat to global peace and security.”

Araghchi said, “These countries should justify why we should negotiate with them again,” noting that “we have previously negotiated and reached an agreement, but the United States withdrew from it and the three European countries did not respect their commitments.”

In 2015, after years of negotiations, France, Britain, Germany, the United States, Russia, and China reached an agreement with Tehran to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for lifting sanctions.

In 2018, during Donald Trump’s first term, the United States decided to withdraw from the agreement and reimposed its own sanctions on Tehran.

In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing some of its commitments under the agreement, primarily uranium enrichment, prompting the European troika to activate the snapback sanctions mechanism.

Tehran accused European countries of failing to prevent the return of U.S. sanctions.

Western countries and Israel suspect Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran denies, affirming its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.