Iran will host a trilateral meeting with Russia and China in Tehran on Tuesday, 22 July, to discuss its nuclear programme and the potential reactivation of the United Nations “snapback” mechanism that could restore multilateral sanctions, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said. Baghaei added that Iran has also agreed to meet Britain, France and Germany—the E3—in Istanbul on Friday, 25 July. The gathering will be the first round of direct talks with the European powers since U.S. warplanes struck Iranian nuclear facilities on 22 June, and follows an E3 warning that sanctions could be re-imposed if Tehran does not resume substantive negotiations. European officials have threatened to invoke the snapback clause of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by late August, a move that would automatically reinstate UN penalties unless Iran scales back uranium enrichment. Tehran maintains its programme is peaceful, while insisting any new diplomacy must address what it calls the unlawful U.S. and Israeli attacks on its sites.