News - Middle East: A senior Iranian diplomat says the Islamic Republic is about to resume its talks with the European trio of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany (E3) later this month on the revival of a deal on Tehran's nuclear program.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi provided the information to reporters on Wednesday, saying the dialog would resume in the Swiss city of Geneva on January 13.

He said the country would not speculate concerning the outcome of the talks, noting, “We are not in favor of predictions, and have to wait and see what would happen during the talks.”

The official, meanwhile, dismissed the notion of the existence of a “negotiation” process between Tehran and the European states, saying, “In fact, there are going to be some talks, and no negotiations are underway.”

According to Gharibabadi, the pending talks would feature defining of the standing issues and further consultations “so we get to know within which frameworks and through which method we should conduct any [potential] negotiations if there were going to be any.”

The two sides have been conducting on-again, off-again talks since 2018, when the United States illegally and unilaterally left a historic nuclear accord between Iran and world powers under its former president Donald Trump, returning Washington’s unlawful sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The trio then failed to live up to their promise of bringing Washington back into the deal.

Reacting to the counter-party’s non-commitment to its obligations, Tehran initiated a set of retaliatory nuclear steps, including by activating more advanced centrifuges.

The country has been stepping up the measures in response to the other parties’ continued refusal to uphold their obligations.

Earlier this year, the European states forwarded an anti-Iranian resolution that had been proposed by the US, to the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which was approved by the board.

Last month, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi strongly criticized some members of the Board of Governors for taking “unconstructive measures” that prevented a November visit by the IAEA’s Director General Rafael Grossi to the Islamic Republic from resulting in progress in the two sides’ attempts to resolve outstanding issues concerning the agency’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.

The Islamic Republic, though, has vowed to respond in kind to any positive measures on the part of the other parties to the nuclear agreement.

Press TV