France, Germany and the United Kingdom have begun the process to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
The triggering of the snapback sanctions, a move that the United States welcomed on Thursday, comes as diplomatic efforts to restrain Iran’s growing nuclear program have faltered. Tehran has condemned the move and warned there could be consequences for reimplementing sanctions.
The “E3” countries notified the UN Security Council Thursday that they were triggering the snapback mechanism, which was included as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Iran has increasingly breached the nuclear deal after President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the agreement, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), in 2018.
“Today, Iran’s non-compliance with the JCPoA is clear and deliberate, and sites of major proliferation concern in Iran are outside of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) monitoring,” the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK said in a joint statement on Thursday. “Iran has no civilian justification for its high enriched uranium stockpile.”
“Its nuclear programme therefore remains a clear threat to international peace and security,” the statement added.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the move Thursday, calling it a “provocative and unnecessary escalation” that would be met with appropriate responses. The ministry said in a statement that “the E3’s decision will seriously undermine the current process of engagement and cooperation between Iran and the IAEA,” according to Reuters.
The process takes 30 days, giving Tehran a window to take action to stop the reimposition of the sanctions. The ability to trigger the snapback sanctions expires in October 2025, which prompted the E3 to do so now.
“It’s not a decision that has been taken at all lightly,” a British official said Thursday.
The official said the E3 made the decision due to Iran’s “significant noncompliance” with the 2015 deal, its highly enriched uranium stockpiles, and what they described as a lack of “sufficient response on the Iranian side” to reach a diplomatic agreement.
“We don’t think it’s the end of diplomacy, and we remain committed to a negotiated solution,” the official said.
In a letter to the President of the UN Security Council on Thursday, the foreign ministers of the E3 countries wrote that they “will continue to strive to resolve the issue of Iran’s significant non-performance, and affirm that if this issue is resolved before the end of the 30-day period… the E3 will inform the Security Council accordingly.”
“We therefore urge Iran to engage in constructive diplomacy to resolve the concerns associated with its nuclear programme,” they wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by CNN.
In the European countries’ joint statement, the foreign ministers emphasized that the measures for sanctions and other restrictive measures “are not new.” The measures were previously agreed upon by the UN Security Council and “lifted in light of Iran’s commitments under the JCPoA,” according to the statement.
“However, Iran has chosen not to abide by those commitments,” the joint statement added.
The United States welcomed the move by the E3 to trigger the snapback sanctions while saying it was ready for fresh diplomacy.
“I urge Iranian leaders to take the immediate steps necessary to ensure that their nation will never obtain a nuclear weapon; to walk the path of peace; and to, by extension, advance prosperity for the Iranian people,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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