Iran's disputed uranium enrichment drive is nearing a point of no return and European partners to a moribund 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran should consider reimposing sanctions if there is no progress with Tehran, France's president said on Monday.

Addressing an annual conference with French ambassadors to outline foreign policy objectives in 2025, President Emmanuel Macron described Iran as the main "strategic and security challenge" for France and Europe, Reuters reported.

"The acceleration of the nuclear programme leads us nearly to the point of no return," Macron said.

Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes and has stepped up the programme since U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 deal during his first term of office and restored tough U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

European powers France, Germany and Britain said last month Iran’s actions had further hollowed out the deal and would heighten its stockpile of high-enriched uranium without a "credible civilian justification".

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in December that the Islamic Republic was "dramatically" accelerating enrichment close to the roughly 90% level that is bomb-grade, read the report.

The three European powers were co-signatories to the 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to curb enrichment, seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear-weapons capability, in return for a lifting of international sanctions.

French, German and British diplomats are set to hold a follow-up meeting with Iranian counterparts on Jan. 13 after one last month held to discuss the possibility of serious negotiations in coming months to defuse tensions with Tehran with Trump due to return to the White House on Jan. 20.

"In the coming months we will have to ask ourselves whether to use ... the mechanism to restore sanctions," Macron said, referring to October 2025 when the 2015 accord formally expires.

Macron said Iran's ballistic missiles and support for Russia also posed threats to Europe and this would become one of the main dossiers to be addressed in diplomacy with Trump after he took office, Reuters reported.

Syria's new Islamist rulers said on Sunday that U.S. sanctions on Syria were an obstacle to the war-torn country's rapid recovery and urged Washington to lift them during a visit by Syrian officials to Qatar.

"These sanctions constitute a barrier and an obstacle to the rapid recovery and development of the Syrian people who await services and partnerships from other countries," Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani told reporters after meeting with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister.

"We reiterate our calls for the United States to lift these sanctions, which have now become against the Syrian people rather than what they previously were: imposed sanctions on the Assad regime," he said.

Shibani, on his second foreign trip less than a month after former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebels on Dec. 8, said that Qatar will be a partner in the new phase in Syria, Reuters reported.

Doha had not normalised ties with Assad over his government's violent response to 2011 protests and backed the Syrian opposition instead.

Shibani, who was joined by Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Head of Intelligence Anas Khattab, met with other senior Qatari officials including Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, a Qatari official told Reuters earlier.

Shibani presented the Qataris a clear roadmap for the near future in Syria and steps that would be taken by the new Syrian administration, Al-Khulaifi told reporters after the meeting.

"We are working together to prevent any foreign interference in Syrian affairs," Al-Khulaifi added.

Shibani said the roadmap is meant to "rebuild our country, restore its Arab and foreign relations, enable the Syrian people to obtain their civil and basic rights, and present a government that the Syrian people feel it represents them and all their components."

He is expected to also visit the United Arab Emirates and Jordan this week to "support stability, security, economic recovery and build distinguished partnerships," according to his account on X.

Shibani embarked on his first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, less than a month since former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebels on Dec. 8, where Saudi officials discussed how best to support Syria's political transition.

At least four people were killed and 32 others injured in an explosion in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Saturday, local media and officials said.

The incident happened in Turbat district of the province, where a convoy was attacked and a bus in it was struck during the assault, officials told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

A senior police officer and his family members were injured in the attack and shifted to a nearby hospital, local reports said.

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army claimed the attack in a post on social media, while the Pakistani authorities have not confirmed the attack.