PARIS – France on Friday urged Iran to curb nuclear activities of “unprecedented gravity” as US and EU envoys meet to discuss efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

US envoy Robert Malley joined his counterparts from France, Britain and Germany at meetings in Paris, what the French foreign ministry called a “critical moment” in efforts to save the deal.

“It is urgent and crucial for Iran to end its activities of unprecedented gravity which it is carrying out in violation of (the agreement) and to immediately resume full cooperation” with the International atomic energy, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre. in an online briefing.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the United States and its partners are “united in the belief that diplomacy continues to be the most effective avenue to effectively prevent verifiable and permanent Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon “.

“And,” he said, “we are united in the conviction that negotiations should resume in Vienna as soon as possible and that they should resume precisely where they left off in June.”

The IAEA is tasked with monitoring the 2015 deal, which sought to curb Iran’s nuclear activity in return for the lifting of crippling sanctions. The United States withdrew from the deal under Donald Trump and reimposed sanctions.

Since then, Iran has stepped up its nuclear activities and is now in violation of several aspects of the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.

Iran’s nuclear activity includes the enrichment of uranium which Western countries believe could be used to build an atomic bomb. Tehran denies such ambitions.

The American and European partners are ready to immediately resume negotiations with Iran “in order to quickly conclude an agreement on the return of Iran to its commitments and the return of the United States to the JCPOA”, declared Legendre.

Iran’s new radical government led by President Ebrahim Raisi, which took power in August, has hinted it will return to nuclear talks in Vienna but has been reluctant to set a date.