France, Germany and the United Kingdom have launched mechanisms to reimpose sanctions on Iran after several meetings failed to reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.
The three European countries, known as the E3 group, have been warning Tehran for weeks that UN sanctions could be reinstated in October if Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers expires.
Thursday’s decision sets a 30-day window for sanctions to be reinstated. Earlier, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry warned this week that the resumption of sanctions would lead to consequences. E3 accused Tehran of violating the terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which requires Iran to limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international economic sanctions on it.
The “rebound” mechanism in the nuclear deal stipulates that sanctions can be reinstated immediately if Iran defaults.
The foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, saying: “Since 2019, Iran has continued to deliberately suspend the implementation of JCPOA commitments. ”
“This includes stockpiling highly enriched uranium stockpiles — unprecedented for countries without nuclear weapons programs and lacking credible civilian justification,” they said. However, the three countries said they are still committed to resolving the problem through diplomatic channels.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragzi dismissed the E3 decision as “baseless, illegal and lacking legal basis.”
He said Iran would “respond appropriately… to defend national rights and interests”, but hoped that European countries “will correct this wrong move in the coming days”.
However, in a letter to EU foreign policy chief Kaya Kallas last Thursday, Aragzi said that Iran is willing to resume “fair” negotiations on the premise that “all parties show sincerity and avoid undermining the possibility of successful negotiations.”
If sanctions are reinstated, they will reinstate the comprehensive UN sanctions imposed before the 2015 agreement, including a conventional arms embargo, ballistic missile research and development restrictions, and asset freezes.
Al Jazeera correspondent Gabriel Elizondo reported from UN headquarters in New York that the E3 statement marked the start of the process.
Elizondo said, “It does not mean that the sanctions will take effect immediately, and there is still room for negotiations in the coming weeks…… (therefore) the situation may be resolved through behind-the-scenes diplomacy”.
Progress in nuclear negotiations
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Bagae said on Tuesday that Iran had informed Europe at the Geneva meeting that it had no right to trigger the mechanism, but that the two sides would continue nuclear negotiations.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Kazem Garibabadi, posted on the social platform X after the talks, emphasizing that Tehran still adheres to diplomatic channels.
“It’s time for E3 and [the Security Council] to make the right choice and give time and space for diplomacy,” Garibabadi wrote.
Since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement in 2018, Iran has continued to increase its nuclear enrichment level.
The country that denies seeking nuclear weapons was originally negotiating indirectly with the United States on its nuclear program, but the United States joined the Israeli attack after Israel launched airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, military and civilian targets in June, killing hundreds of people.
The U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities prompted the Iranian government to withdraw from all diplomatic efforts.
Iran and European officials resumed negotiations in July, but have so far failed to reach an agreement.
On Thursday, E3 foreign ministers said in a letter to the UN Security Council that they are willing to extend sanctions exemptions if Iran agrees to take concrete measures.
However, the letter said Tehran “has neither resumed fulfilling its obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency nor re-engaged in negotiations aimed at reaching an acceptable diplomatic solution.”
Al Jazeera’s foreign affairs editor-in-chief, James Bess, noted that “Iran has always been the most coherent party in the nuclear negotiations.”
He explained that Tehran has always stated that it pursues a peaceful nuclear program rather than nuclear weapons, while the US position is capricious.
“The United States once recognized Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, and then completely denied it. And when Israel attacked Iran, the diplomatic process continued,” Bess said.
“Iran has always maintained policy coherence, and it is actually the United States that has really changed its position.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the move on Thursday, saying Washington “remains willing to engage directly with Iran to promote a peaceful and lasting solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.”
“The ‘rebound’ mechanism does not contradict our sincere diplomatic will, but will enhance diplomatic effectiveness,” he added.
‘A vicious circle of pressure and retaliation’
Sena Tusi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a U.S. think tank, believes that E3’s action on Thursday “is not so much a way to revive cooperation as an escalation aimed at forcing Iran to make short-term concessions.”
“Instead of rebuilding trust, this could trap both sides in a cycle of pressure and retaliation with no outlet,” Tutsi wrote in Responsible Governance.
Iran was bombed at the negotiating table, and according to many sources, the agreement was close at hand. Trust is a two-way street, and Europe should now act as a credible mediator, not fuel the triangular tensions between the United States, Israel and Iran. ”
Fuad Izadi, a professor at Tehran University, said that the Iranian people are particularly outraged by the resumption of the sanctions plan by E3, especially since it happened only a few months after the Israeli attack.
He pointed out that some Iranian politicians have also urged the government to withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons because “no matter what Iran does” it will face international condemnation and punishment.
“Iran has tried agreements, tried diplomacy — all to no avail. All Iran gets is more sanctions, military strikes, sabotage and the killing of scientists,” he told Al Jazeera, saying many Iranians believe the country should “adopt an independent policy on its nuclear program.”