Address Nuclear Programme Concerns Or Face Nuclear Sanctions: France, US Tells Iran

Last Updated:September 25, 2025, 02:17 IST

Macron urges Masoud Pezeshkian to allow UN nuclear inspections and resume talks, warning Iran faces deep UN sanctions. US stresses negotiation or snapbacks at the UN Assembly.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian

French President Emmanuel Macron and a US envoy on Wednesday said that Iran still had a last chance to avoid deep UN sanctions if it addresses concerns on its nuclear programme.

According to France24, Macron met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and urged him to reverse a series of steps taken by Tehran following an Israeli and US attack in June.

Macron urged Iran to allow full access to UN nuclear inspectors, immediately resume nuclear negotiations and offer transparency on highly enriched uranium whose whereabouts have been the subject of speculation.

“An agreement remains possible. Only a few hours are left. It’s up to Iran to respond to the legitimate conditions we have raised,” he said in a post on X after the meeting.

Meanwhile, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said he was still in touch with Iran. “I think that we have no desire to hurt them. We have a desire, however, to either realise a permanent solution and negotiate around snapbacks,” Witkoff told the Concordia summit on the sidelines of the General Assembly. “If we can’t, then snapbacks will be what they are. They’re the right medicine.”

Ahead of the meeting with Macron, Pezeshkian said: “I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb.”

“The one disturbing peace and stability in the region is Israel, but Iran is the one that gets punished,” he said.

According to France24, Iran has long contended that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, pointing to an edict by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and US intelligence has not concluded that the country has decided to build a nuclear weapon.

However, Israel, the US and European nations have believed it could quickly pursue a bomb if it so decided.

France24 quoted Pezeshkian accusing the Europeans of bad faith, saying that Iran’s lack of cooperation was in response to Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“They falsely presented themselves as parties of good standing to the agreement, and they disparaged Iran’s sincere efforts as insufficient,” he said.

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