France, UK and Germany willing to reimpose sanctions on Iran
The foreign ministers of the so-called E3 group wrote to the UN on Tuesday to raise the possibility of "snapback" sanctions unless Iran takes action, according to the letter, which was shared on X by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
"We have made it clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism," the ministers wrote.
The E3 considers that Iran's nuclear programme continues to pose a threat to world security despite US strikes on in June that ended 12 days of an Iran-Israel air war. The International Atomic Energy Agency can no longer conduct on-site inspections since Iran stopped co-operating with the IAEA after the conflict.
The E3 offered a six-month snapback extension after its latest meeting with Iran in Istanbul on July 22, to which Iran has yet to respond. Without an answer, the E3 has said it will trigger snapback by the end of August to meet an October deadline.
"If Iran continues to violate its international obligations, France and its German and British partners will reinstate at the end of August the global embargoes on arms, nuclear equipment and banking restrictions lifted 10 years ago," Mr Barrot said.
An extension would provide "additional time for negotiations with the aim of concluding a new agreement, while maintaining the possibility of resorting to the re-establishment of relevant sanctions against Iran to prevent nuclear proliferation," the letter said.
The E3 rejects claims made by Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that it has no legal foundation to trigger snapback. The E3, China and Russia are the remaining parties to a 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran – from which the US withdrew in 2018 – that lifted sanctions on the Middle Eastern country in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme.
Iranian legislator Manouchehr Mottaki, who served as foreign minister from 2005 to 2010, said Iran's parliament "has its finger on the trigger to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)" if international sanctions were reimposed after any E3 invocation of the snapback mechanism.
Mr Mottaki told Iran's semi-official Defa Press that parliament would approve a bill to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal within 24 hours if the E3 invoked the snapback mechanism.
During its 12-day war with Israel, Tehran said its legislators were preparing a bill that could push it towards exiting the treaty, ratified by Iran in 1970. The accord guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forgo atomic weapons and co-operate with the IAEA.
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But polls also indicate Ukrainians do not want peace at any cost if that means significant concessions. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexei Fadeev earlier said Moscow's stance had not changed since last year. As conditions for a ceasefire and the start of talks, Putin had demanded Ukraine withdraw its forces from four regions that Russia has claimed as its own but does not fully control, and formally renounce plans to join NATO. Kyiv swiftly rejected the conditions as tantamount to surrender.
