Iran declined an invitation from the European Union (EU) to engage in direct negotiations with the United States about the Iranian nuclear program. The EU had raised the idea of an informal meeting between all the countries party to the JCPOA, the 2015 nuclear accord from which the United States withdrew in 2018. The United States agreed to attend the meeting as an observer. Iran cited unspecified recent actions of the E3 (France, Germany, the United Kingdom) and the United States in its rejection of the proposal, instead calling on the United States to immediately lift economic sanctions and rejoin the JCPOA. Iran suggested that the EU could mediate a process where Iran and the United States make limited concessions as trust-building measures before arranging a meeting; the United States has yet to respond to that offer. EU officials expressed concern that a window for diplomatic progress could soon close. The start of the Iranian new year holiday on March 20 could further delay talks, and Iranian officials told their European counterparts that negotations during the Iranian presidential campaign beginning in April or May could prove challenging. Iran also threatened to abandon a recent interim agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in response to E3 plans to introduce a resolution censuring Iran for accelerating its nuclear program early this year.