The United States, Germany, France and the UK on Saturday said they have "grave and growing concern" about Iran's nuclear program.

"We are convinced that it remains possible to quickly reach and implement an understanding on return to full compliance," the countries' leaders said in a joint statement after meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome. "This will only be possible if Iran changes course."

What did the leaders say?

US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said they wanted "to ensure that Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon."

The leaders said the talks were intended to prevent "a dangerous escalation."

They said that the country "has accelerated the pace of provocative nuclear steps, such as the production of highly enriched uranium and enriched uranium metal."

"Iran has no credible civilian need for either measure, but both are important to nuclear weapons programs," the statement added.

Merkel said the time had come for leaders to discuss ways of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. 

"We are, of course, counting on a return of Iran to the negotiating table," the German chancellor said. "But the clock is ticking. Uranium enrichment is occurring in Iran, and this deeply concerns us."

The E3 group of countries is trying to convince Iran to come back to negotiations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) set up in 2015. 

Biden said the talks were "scheduled to resume" after former US President Donald Trump pulled out from the deal in 2018 and hit Iran with harsh sanctions.

Is Iran ready to talk?

Iran's deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri, tweeted on October 25 that Iran is ready to be restart negotiations by the end of November. He said the date for the talks "would be announced in the course of next week."

"Iran is determined to engage in negotiations that would remove unlawful and cruel sanctions in a full and effective manner, secure normalization of trade and economic relations with Iran, and provide credible guarantee for no further reneging," added Bagheri.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Thursday that it was "not entirely clear... whether the Iranians are prepared to return to talks." 

"We have heard positive signals that they are, but I think we have to wait and see when and whether they actually show up at the negotiating table," said Sullivan.

The national security adviser said the window for negotiation "is not unlimited" and that "all other options" were on the table "to deal with this program."

He pointed out that the US desire for talks was "in contrast with the previous administration." US former President Donald Trump had major disagreements with European leaders on how to handle Iran.

How close is Iran to a new nuclear deal?

In April, six world powers began discussions with Tehran on returning to the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump abandoned in 2018.

Instead, Trump imposed crippling sanctions that led to widespread unrest in the country.

The original nuclear deal, brokered by Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, gave the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) full access to inspect Iran's nuclear sites.

Despite six rounds of talks in Vienna, no agreement has been reached on which nuclear limits Iran will accept and what sanctions the US will drop.

Since the Iranian election, where hardline Ebrahim Raisi became president, Western powers have urged Iran to return to the talks, saying Tehran's nuclear program is progressing well beyond the limits of the deal.

The US has not ruled out tougher sanctions or even military action if Iran fails to come to the negotiating table. Israel has also threatened to attack Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.

jc/sms (Reuters, AFP, AP)