By John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron was convening key ministers and experts on Wednesday to discuss Iran, including its nuclear programme, amid growing tensions between Tehran and U.S. President Donald Trump, three diplomatic sources said.
Such a cabinet meeting dedicated to a specific subject is rare and highlights mounting concern among Washington’s European allies that the United States and Israel could launch air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities unless there is a quick negotiated deal on its nuclear programme.
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has reinforced U.S. military capability in the Middle East with more warplanes, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, amid a U.S. bombing campaign against the Houthis who control much of Yemen and are supported by Iran.
A senior European official said European strategists were asking themselves whether the campaign could be a precursor to a U.S. strike on Iran in the coming months.
Trump, who has urged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to engage immediately in negotiations, threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if it did not come to an agreement over its nuclear programme, which Western countries say amounts to weapons development.
The foreign minister of Iran’s direct adversary Israel will be in Paris on Thursday. Diplomatic sources said ministers from France, Britain and Germany were hoping to discuss the Iran dossier with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio when they convene in Brussels for a NATO ministerial meeting this week.
Trump withdrew the U.S. from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping U.S. sanctions.
Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal’s limits on uranium enrichment, producing stocks at a high level of fissile purity, well above what Western powers say is justifiable for a civilian energy programme and close to that required for nuclear warheads. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.
France, Britain and Germany have sought in recent months to raise pressure on Iran in a bid to coax it back into discussions over its nuclear programme.
They have held several rounds of talks with Iran including at technical level last week, to try to lay the groundwork for some form of agreement.
But the Trump administration has focused initially on a campaign of “maximum pressure”, and the Europeans have found coordination complicated, diplomats say.
The European powers had hoped to convince Iran to begin negotiating new restrictions on its nuclear activities with a view to having a deal by August at the latest.
That would give enough time to set new limits for Iran’s programme and lift sanctions before the 2015 accord expires in October 2025.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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