Pakistan, July 21 -- Iran will hold important nuclear talks with Britain, France, and Germany on Friday in Istanbul, according to a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The meeting will happen at the deputy foreign minister level and follows recent warnings from the European nations that failure to resume dialogue could trigger renewed international sanctions on Tehran.

The scheduled talks come after the foreign ministers of the three European countries, also known as the E3, and the EU's foreign policy chief spoke with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi last week. This was their first direct communication since last month's Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which sharply raised regional tensions.

These ...