Iran has recalled its ambassadors in the UK, Germany, and France as the UN Security Council rejected a Russian-Chinese draft resolution to delay reimposing international sanctions on Tehran.
Iran’s official news agency, Tasnim, reported: “Following the irresponsible action of the three European countries to reinstate repealed UN Security Council resolutions, Iran’s ambassadors to Germany, France and the United Kingdom have been summoned to Tehran for consultations.”
This is not a “formal severance of diplomatic relations”, but just a defiant response to a move Tehran sees as part of the American-Israeli effort to strangulate the country.
The three European countries, known as the E3 signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, triggered a mechanism reinstating the sanctions on Tehran for the first time in a decade. The mechanism, Snapback, was included in the deal, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), from which the US withdrew in 2018.
The sanctions went into effect on Sunday setting up a global ban on cooperation with Iran on nuclear, military, banking and shipping industries. Iran’s national currency, the rial, fell to record lows this week, with the US dollar trading for more than one million rials.
A last minute meeting between Iranians and representatives of the E3 on the fringe of the UN General Assembly annual gathering failed to avert the Snapback mechanism, triggered a month ago by the European signatories of JCPOA. Reimposed sanctions are not mandatory, but Israel and the US urged all countries to commit to them. Moscow and Beijing said they were not bound by it and considered it null. Their proposal to delay sanctions was supported only by Pakistan and Algeria in the fifteen-member Security Council on Saturday.
Europeans feel that Tehran has not met their demands to restart talks with the US, resuming cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and clarifying the status of its 408 kg stockpile of uranium that has been enriched to a grade close to that required for weapons. But in turn Iran blamed US pressure for sabotaging their negotiations with the Europeans.
Responding to the decision, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the UN that the sanctions “will fail” much as the attack on Iran in June by Israel and the US did. He added, “let me end with this: Military strikes have failed. Snapback will also fail. The only solution is dialogue. The JCPOA proved this. Iran will never bow to pressure. We only respond to respect. The choice is clear: escalation or diplomacy.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sounded a softer note, saying Tehran would respond but would not leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which regime hardliners had called for scrapping. “Certain people inside the country think that we certainly should leave the NPT… but the supreme leadership is holding steadfast… and that’s our official policy,” he told reporters in New York. “But if they implement the snapback mechanism and subsequent mechanisms, then we need to know how to respond.”
Pezeshkian kept the door open for dialogue, saying “the wall of mistrust that has been erected between us and the Americans is quite thick and quite high… Every step we take forward, they take two steps back and add more conditions… First show us your sincerity and your good will and we will take two steps towards you.”
Iranian officials said that Snapback sanctions are not as harsh as US conditions. It is reported that Washington called on Tehran to hand over its nuclear materials which the Iranians consider “a disgrace to the Islamic Republic.” As sanctions resumed, the US called on Iran to resume “direct talks” on its nuclear programme, while Israel reiterated its readiness to attack Iran again. It is not clear if the Iranians will negotiate “under maximum pressure”, although previous experiences show they might.
An anticipated response would be suspending cooperation with the IAEA and stopping negotiations with the E3. Iran suspended that cooperation in June after the Israeli-US attacks, but had recently reached a new modality of cooperation with the IAEA, brokered by Egypt. The UN atomic watchdog said on Friday that some inspections had resumed at Iranian sites this week, but did not say whether this included sites bombed by the US and Israel, where nuclear material could be buried.
Iran continues to rely on Russia and China, but their support will not be guaranteed in facing the US. Meanwhile, Iran is reaching out to its Gulf neighbours and other regional powers like Egypt. It is capitalising on the regional animosity towards Israel and its Western allies in response to the occupation’s crimes in Palestine.
Last Saturday, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani welcomed a Hizbullah initiative to improve relations with Saudi Arabia, describing the timing as favourable for regional cooperation. Larijani earlier visited Saudi Arabia and met with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, where he discussed enhancing cooperation with the leading Gulf country.
Trying to strengthen regional relations in the hope that this will give it some leverage in its struggle against the Israeli-American alliance, Tehran is pushing to improve relations with countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But many analysts think that approach has limited potential. A Dubai-based political commentator told Al- Ahram Weekly that Iran is trying to “play the game of patience” through measured responses to American and European moves. “The Iranians use the same old tactics of showing defiance and ‘resistance’ while seeking negotiations and political settlements without further concessions,” he said.
Betting on any real support from Gulf neighbours or the wider Arab and Muslim world has not helped Tehran in the past and that is not expected to change now. Even with the widespread condemnation of the Gaza genocide, most regional players are seeking a just end to the Israeli war and a political settlement in the Occupied Territories. Nobody is willing to go into open war with the Israeli-American alliance, as almost all analysts and commentators agree.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 2 October, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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