Iran: UN sanctions would complicate nuclear standoff

Reimposing international sanctions on Iran would make the "situation" over its nuclear programme more complex, state media quoted Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as saying on Tuesday.

He was speaking ahead of a meeting on Friday with three European states known as the E3 - Britain, France and Germany.

The E3 have said that if no progress is reached by the end of August over Iran's nuclear programme, they will invoke a "snapback" mechanism - a process that would reimpose U.N. sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under a 2015 deal in return for restrictions on Iran's nuclear programme

"We will express our position regarding the E3's comments on the snapback mechanism, which we think lacks any legal ground," Gharibabadi said, referring to Friday's meeting in Istanbul.

"Nonetheless, our effort will be to see if we can find common solutions to manage the situation."

The three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal - from which the United States withdrew in 2018.

"It has been seven years that the nuclear deal is not being implemented by the Europeans following the U.S. departure from it. How can they argue that Iran is not following the deal when they themselves have not done so?" Gharibabadi added.

Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear programme is solely meant for civilian purposes.