After a number of meetings failed to lead to an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, France, Germany, and the UK established a mechanism to reimpose sanctions on Iran.
Tehran has been warned for weeks by the three European countries by the acronym E3 that Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with major powers may be renewed in October.
A 30-day window is opened by the decision on Thursday for the reimposition of sanctions. This comes after an Iranian ministry of foreign affairs spokesman warned this week that a new round of sanctions would result.
Tehran has been accused of breaking the terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement, which required Iran to renounce its nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions on its economy.
The “snapback” mechanism, which is a component of the nuclear deal, allows for immediate reimposition of sanctions if Iran is found to be violating the deal.
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Britain have all written in a letter to the UN Security Council on Thursday that “Iran has increasingly and deliberately ceased to fulfill its JCPoA commitments” since then.
They claimed that this included the accumulation of a high-enriched uranium stockpile, which is unprecedented for a state without a nuclear weapons program, and that it is unprecedented.
Abbas Araghchi, the country’s foreign minister, criticized the E3’s decision as “unjustified, illegal, and without any legal basis.”
Araghchi added that he hoped the European countries would “appropriately correct this wrong move in the coming days” and that Iran “will respond appropriately to protect and secure its national rights and interests.”
Implementing the plan would lead to a return to the extensive UN sanctions that existed prior to the 2015 deal, including a conventional arms embargo, restrictions on ballistic missile development, and asset freezes.
Gabriel Elizondo, a journalist for the UN in New York, argued that the E3 announcement was just the start of a process.
Elizondo said, “This does not mean the sanctions are lifted right away, and there is room for negotiations over the upcoming weeks, so] this could potentially be diplomatically resolved behind the scenes.”
Nuclear discussions
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei claimed on Tuesday that Iran had stated to Europeans that it had no authority to ratify the mechanism during a meeting in Geneva. Baghaei did, however, promise that nuclear negotiations would continue between the two parties.
Tehran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, also stated in a social media post that the country remained committed to diplomacy following Tuesday’s discussions.
It’s time for the E3 and the UN Security Council to make the right decision, Gharibabadi wrote on X.
After Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018, Iran had been steadily increasing its nuclear enrichment.
When Israel launched a massive bombing campaign against Iranian nuclear, military, and civilian sites in June, killing hundreds of people, the nation, which denies seeking a nuclear weapon, had been engaging in indirect discussions with the US over its nuclear program.
The Iranian government resisted all diplomatic efforts because Israel also launched attacks against Iranian targets.
Iranian and European officials rekindled discussions in July, but they have so far failed to reach a resolution.
The E3 foreign ministers announced on Thursday that they would offer to impose sanctions on Iran if it agreed to specific actions in a letter to the UN Security Council.
However, they claimed that Tehran “has not reengaged in negotiations with a view to reaching an acceptable diplomatic solution” and has not returned to meeting its obligations with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
However, Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays noted that “Iran is the one who has been consistent throughout”the nuclear talks.
He explained that while the US has been changing its mind, Tehran has consistently stated that it wants a peaceful nuclear program rather than a nuclear weapon.
The US once said that a peaceful nuclear program was possible, before saying no, absolutely no. Then, of course, diplomacy was still in full swing when Israel attacked Iran, Bags said.
Iran has maintained a consistent position throughout the entire process, and the US consistently and unexpectedly changes its mind.
“Retaliation cycle”
The E3’s move, according to Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, “sees less like a path to reviving cooperation than an escalation designed to force Iran into short-term concessions.”
For the Responsible Statecraft magazine, Toossi wrote, “It risks locking both sides into a cycle of pressure and retaliation without an offramp,”
Iran was just bombed while the table was being negotiated, and according to some, a deal was almost in hand. The role of an effective intermediary between the US, Israel, and Iran is now in Europe’s hands rather than an escalater.
Meanwhile, Iranians have expressed outrage over the E3’s plan to reimpose sanctions on the country, especially in light of the recent events that have occurred in Israel, according to Foad Izadi, a professor at the University of Tehran.
Izadi noted that some Iranian politicians have been urging the country to leave the world’s nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), “because Iran faces international condemnation and penalties” regardless of what it does.
