Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to France on November 26 for talks with French Foreign Minister Jean‑Noël Barrot, amid growing tensions over Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Araghchi will visit Paris after attending the annual meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Netherlands.
He noted that discussions in France will include bilateral issues such as the case of Iranian national Mahdiyeh Esfandiari, as well as wider regional and international developments. Iran also plans to present its positions on the nuclear issue, as well as Israeli aggressions in Palestine and Lebanon.
France’s Foreign Ministry had earlier announced the meeting, saying it will be a chance to press Iran to meet its IAEA commitments and restart cooperation. French officials also confirmed that talks will cover the situation of two French citizens who, though released, remain unable to leave Iran and are staying at the French Embassy in Tehran.
The visit comes after the IAEA passed a resolution backed by France, Germany, the UK and the United States, demanding Iran allow inspections of nuclear sites damaged in the recent 12‑day conflict and grant access to its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Tehran has restricted cooperation since the June war, when Israeli strikes and US bombardments hit nuclear facilities. Inspectors have not been allowed into damaged sites or to review roughly 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%.
Iran had agreed to continue cooperation under a framework reached in Cairo, but later declared the deal void after European powers triggered the snapback mechanism to restore international sanctions in September. Tehran has since said Europe lost its role in nuclear talks.
Despite this, French President Emmanuel Macron told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a mid‑November phone call that France is working to create “a new negotiating framework” between Iran and the West.
