TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivered a stark warning to the United Kingdom on Tuesday, stating that London's apparent insistence on "zero enrichment" in Iran renders further dialogue on the nuclear issue futile.

Araghchi's declaration came via a post on the social media platform X, presumably responding to recent remarks by the British Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson.

"Iran has maintained multilateral engagement with the UK and other European JCPOA participants in good faith," the Iranian top diplomat stated, "even as the U.S. continues to show no interest in getting them involved in the ongoing negotiation process."

He then issued the critical challenge: "If the UK position is 'zero enrichment' in Iran—in violation of the NPT and UK commitments as a remaining JCPOA participant —there is nothing left for us to discuss on the nuclear issue."

This firm stance from Tehran follows Ambassador Mandelson's comments at an Atlantic Council event in Washington, D.C., published on Tuesday.

The British envoy launched a series of unfounded claims against Iran’s nuclear program. Labeling Iran as “vulnerable” and alleging that its enrichment facilities could produce a nuclear bomb, he echoed the tired rhetoric of Western adversaries seeking to undermine Iran. 

Mandelson asserted that Britain "strongly supports the [U.S.] President's initiative in negotiating away these enrichment and related facilities in Iran," claiming that the UK can't “accept” that Iran retains enrichment facilities capable of producing nuclear material.

He also pointedly referenced the potential use of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’s (JCPOA) "snapback" mechanism by European powers.

Iran and the U.S. have held five rounds of indirect nuclear talks since April.

Araghchi's statement underscores Iran's long-standing frustration with the positions adopted by the UK and its E3 partners (France, Germany, and the UK itself) regarding the JCPOA. 

While Iran has consistently demonstrated a willingness to engage diplomatically with the E3 – including technical and political meetings throughout 2024 and 2025 involving officials like Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi – Tehran views the European approach as fundamentally unhelpful.

Iran contends that the E3, led by the UK, has failed to uphold its JCPOA obligations since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 under President Trump’s first term.

Instead of shielding Iran from U.S. sanctions as promised, European powers reinstated their own sanctions and imposed additional coercive economic measures.

Furthermore, European powers have consistently criticized Iran's necessary and lawful remedial measures, taken in response to the U.S. withdrawal and European non-compliance, while overlooking the root cause of the escalation.

Analysts observe that the UK and Europe find themselves significantly sidelined in the current indirect nuclear negotiations, primarily taking place between Iran and the United States.

This marginalization, they suggest, fuels the kind of rhetoric displayed by Ambassador Mandelson and may represent an attempt by London to reassert influence or sway diplomatic outcomes amid the sensitive U.S.-Iran talks.

The Iranian position remains unambiguous: the nation possesses an inalienable sovereign right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to pursue nuclear enrichment exclusively for peaceful, civilian purposes. This right has been consistently reaffirmed by Iran's leadership.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei recently dismissed external demands regarding enrichment as “utterly wrong,” stressing that Iran requires no external permission to conduct its peaceful nuclear activities.