The leaders of the US, Britain, France and Germany discussed efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on Sunday during a call mainly focused on Ukraine.

"In addition, they discussed ongoing negotiations over Irans nuclear programme, the need to strengthen support for partners in the Middle East region, and joint efforts to deter and constrain Irans destabilising regional activities," the White House said.

No further details were provided on the Middle Eastern portion of the discussion among US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The EU and US last week said they were studying Iran's response to what the EU has called its "final" proposal to revive the deal, under which Tehran curbed its nuclear programme in return for economic sanctions relief.

Failure in the nuclear negotiations could raise the risk of a regional war, with Israel threatening military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.

Iran, which has long denied having such ambitions, has warned of a "crushing" response to any Israeli attack.

Russian contractors work at the Bushehr nuclear reactor site in 2007. The plant opened four years later. Bloomberg

In 2018, then-president Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear deal reached before he took office.

Mr Trump called it too soft on Iran and reimposed harsh US sanctions, spurring Tehran to begin breaching its limits on uranium enrichment.

Updated: August 21, 2022, 11:08 PM

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US and European leaders discuss progress of Iran nuclear deal - The National