The process, termed a “snapback” by the diplomats who negotiated it into Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, was designed to be veto-proof at the U.N. and could take effect in a month.
It would again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize any development of Iran's ballistic missile program, among other measures, further squeezing the country’s reeling economy.
The move starts a 30-day clock for sanctions to return, a period that likely will see intensified diplomacy from Iran, whose refusal to cooperate with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, started the crisis. Iran will also probably emerge as a top focus of the U.N. General Assembly when it meets next month in New York.
Iran has been reluctant to cooperate with the IAEA after the nuclear body issued conflicting statements on Tehran's nuclear program in the lead-up to the 12-day war with Israel. Iran says such statements were a pretext for the US and Israeli bombing of its nuclear sites and has warned European powers against initiating any sanctions.
But the British, French and German foreign ministers suggested that they viewed the snapback as a way to spur negotiations with Tehran.
"This measure does not signal the end of diplomacy: we are determined to make the most of the 30-day period that is now opening to engage in dialogue with Iran,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on the social platform X.
Iran immediately decried the move, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying it was “unjustified" and "lacking any legal basis" in a call with his European counterparts.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will respond appropriately to this unlawful and unwarranted measure,” he said. Hours later, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the move by the European countries will “gravely undermine” its ongoing cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
Europeans warned Iran about return of sanctions
The three European nations warned Aug. 8 that Iran could trigger the snapback when it halted inspections by the IAEA after Israel launched strikes on Iran, initiating the two countries’ 12-day war in June. The Israeli attacks in the heart of Tehran killed top military leaders, nuclear scientists and hundreds of civilians.
The European nations triggered the sanctions process through a letter to the U.N. Security Council. France and the U.K. also requested that the 15-member council hold closed consultations Friday to discuss Iran’s noncompliance, according to a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss still-private information.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the Europeans' decision and said America “remains available for direct engagement with Iran.” “Snapback does not contradict our earnest readiness for diplomacy; it only enhances it,” Rubio said in a statement.
Using the snapback mechanism will likely heighten tensions between Iran and the West in a region still burning over Israel's war on the Gaza Strip and protracted occupations of parts of Lebanon and Syria. As the measure was announced, Israel launched strikes targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels, a key ally of Tehran.
“Iranian leaders perceive a sanctions ‘snapback’ as a Western effort to weaken Iran’s economy indefinitely and perhaps stimulate sufficient popular unrest to unseat Iran’s regime,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank said Thursday.
Iran appears resigned
Following Europe’s warning, Iran initially downplayed the threat of renewed sanctions and engaged in little visible diplomacy for weeks; however, it did participate in a brief diplomatic push in recent days.
In Tehran on Thursday, Iran’s rial currency traded at over 1 million to $1. At the time of the 2015 accord, it traded at 32,000 to $1, showing the currency’s precipitous collapse over the last decade.
Outside a currency shop in Tehran, resident Arman Vasheghani Farahani told The Associated Press that “many of us feel a deep sense of uncertainty and desperation” over the currency collapse sparked by the nuclear tensions.
“Should we keep trying, or is it time to give up? And how long will this situation last?” he asked. “No official seems willing to take responsibility for what’s happening.”
At issue is Iran’s nuclear enrichment
Before the war in June, Iran was enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Tehran has long insisted its program is peaceful, though Western nations and the IAEA assess that Iran had an active nuclear weapons program until 2003.
It remains unclear just how much the Israeli and U.S. strikes on nuclear sites during the war disrupted Iran’s program.
Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to allow the IAEA even greater access to its nuclear program than the agency has in other member nations. That included permanently installing cameras and sensors at nuclear sites.
But IAEA inspectors, who faced increasing restrictions on their activities since the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal in 2018, have yet to access those sites.
Meanwhile, Iran has said it moved uranium and other equipment out before the strikes — possibly to new, undeclared sites that raise the risk that monitors could lose track of the program’s status.
On Wednesday, IAEA inspectors were on hand to watch a fuel replacement at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor, which is run with Russian technical assistance.
Despite inspectors returning to Iran, the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that regaining access to crucial nuclear facilities is still “a work in progress."
Russia and China try to buy Iran time
The snapback mechanism will expire Oct. 18. After that, any sanctions effort would face a veto from U.N. Security Council members China and Russia — nations that have provided some support to Iran in the past but stayed out of the June war. China has remained a major buyer of Iranian crude oil, something that could be affected if snapback happens.
Russia announced Thursday that Moscow and Beijing introduced a draft resolution to the Security Council, offering a six-month extension of the U.N. sanctions relief. Russia is also due to take the presidency of the council in October, which is likely to put additional pressure on the Europeans to act.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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