TEHRAN, Iran 

A senior Iranian diplomat said “serious, frank, and detailed” discussions focused on the nuclear issue were held with representatives of the European troika and the European Union in Istanbul on Friday.

In a post on social media, Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal affairs and a member of the negotiating team, said he and Majid Takht-Ravanchi, deputy foreign minister for political affairs, met envoys from France, Germany, the UK, and EU.

The talks, held at the level of deputy foreign ministers, came amid rising tensions between Tehran and Washington following the recent 12-day war.

Gharibabadi said the latest developments concerning sanctions relief and the nuclear issue were discussed and reviewed during the meeting.

"While strongly criticizing their stances on the recent war of aggression against our people, we outlined our principled stances, including on the so-called snapback mechanism," he added.

His remark referred to reports indicating that the E3 — the original signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal — are planning to trigger snapback sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Iran has warned the E3 against activating the mechanism, describing it as "legally and morally void." According to sources, the Istanbul talks focused primarily on this issue.

Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, asserting that the European troika had forfeited their role as participants in the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the JCPOA.

Gharibabadi said both sides entered Friday’s talks with “specific ideas,” which were thoroughly examined, and both sides agreed to continue consultations on the matter.

The Istanbul meeting came more than a month after an all-out armed confrontation between Israel and Iran, following Israel’s strikes on Tehran and other major cities on June 13, which killed several top military commanders and nuclear scientists.

The military escalation came ahead of the scheduled sixth round of indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the US in Muscat. Those talks have since been shelved, with opinion inside Iran divided over whether to resume negotiations with Washington.