Latest news with #ManouchehrMottaki
Qatar Tribune
3 days ago
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
UK, France and Germany ready to reimpose sanctions on Iran over nuclear programme
The UK, France and Germany have told the UN they are ready to reimpose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme if it fails to resume talks by the end of August. The three countries, known as the E3, said they were prepared to trigger a 'snapback' mechanism - meaning previous sanctions would be reinstated - unless Iran resumes negotiations. The E3 said they had offered to extend a deadline for negotiations to the end of August, which they said Iran has not replied to. Iranian lawmaker Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran's parliament was ready to withdraw from a nuclear deal which restricted its nuclear programme if new sanctions were put in place, the Iranian Defa Press news agency reported. The E3's letter comes after initial talks between their delegations and Iranian diplomats took place in Istanbul, Turkiye last month. In the letter to the UN and its chief António Guterres, three foreign ministers - Jean-Noël Barrot from France, David Lammy from the UK and Johann Wadephul from Germany - said they would enforce severe sanctions on Iran unless it agrees to limit its nuclear programme. The E3 said their offer of an extension to the negotiations 'remained unanswered by Iran'. (Agencies)
LeMonde
3 days ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
Britain, France and Germany threaten to reimpose sanctions on Iran as nuclear program deadline nears
The top diplomats of Britain, France and Germany threatened to reimpose sanctions on Iran as an end-of-the-month deadline nears for the country to resume negotiations with the West over its nuclear program and cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog . The three countries − known as the E3 − wrote in a letter to the United Nations dated Friday, August 8, that they were willing to trigger a process known as the "snapback" mechanism − which allows one of the Western parties to reimpose UN sanctions − if Tehran doesn't comply with its requirements. French Foreign Minister Jean-Nöel Barrot posted the letter on Wednesday to X. He co-signed it along with top diplomats from Germany and the United Kingdom. "E3 have always committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon," the letter said. "We have made 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 Iranian government didn't immediately respond to the development, but parliament member Manouchehr Mottaki − who was Iran's top diplomat for five years in the 2000s − warned of a swift reaction to any move to trigger the snapback mechanism. He said the Iranian parliament has a "finger on the trigger" for quitting the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, or NPT, the international treaty aimed at halting the spread of nuclear weapons. "We only need 24 hours to approve quitting the nuclear deal," if the E3 raises the issue at the UN Security Council, Mottaki said. The letter from the E3 comes following a period of apparent diplomatic deadlock after a 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June, where Israeli and American jets struck some key nuclear-related facilities in the Islamic Republic. The countries met with Iranian officials last month in Turkey at Iran's consulate building in Istanbul on the possibility of reimposing international sanctions, lifted in 2015 in exchange for Tehran accepting restrictions and monitoring of its nuclear program. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said at the time that he hoped that the meeting would see the E3 nations reassess their "previous unconstructive attitude." Since the war, talks with Washington for a new nuclear deal haven't resumed, and Iran has since suspended ties with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog , following the attacks. The IAEA's first visit to Iran since the war didn't entail any visits to nuclear facilities Monday, and cooperation wasn't officially restored. One of the three countries opting to trigger the snapback mechanism would renew sanctions on Iran, but Tehran renewing cooperation with the Vienna-based IAEA and addressing concerns about its highly-enriched uranium stockpile would delay it. Iran has had limited IAEA inspections in the past as a pressure tactic in negotiating with the West and it is unclear how soon talks between Tehran and Washington for a deal over its nuclear program will resume. German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Josef Hinterseher on Wednesday said that the letter "once again underlines that the legal preconditions for snapback have long existed." "Our position and our appeal is, very clearly, that Iran still has the choice of deciding to return to diplomacy (…) and full cooperation with the IAEA," he told reporters at a regular news conference in Berlin. US intelligence agencies and the IAEA had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60% − a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
LBCI
4 days ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Iranian lawmaker says reimposition of UN sanctions will lead to NPT withdrawal: Report
Iran's parliament is ready to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) should international sanctions be reimposed by the United Nations, Iranian lawmaker Manouchehr Mottaki told Defapress on Wednesday. This comment comes after European countries expressed their will to reimpose international sanctions on Iran to the U.N., which they say they can do by invoking the U.N. snapback mechanism prior to its expiration in October. Reuters
Reuters
4 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
France, Germany, UK willing to reinstate sanctions on Iran
PARIS, Aug 13 (Reuters) - France, Germany and Britain have written to the United Nations to say they are ready to reinstate sanctions on Iran if it does not return to negotiations with the international community over its nuclear programme. The foreign ministers of the so-called E3 group wrote to the U.N. on Tuesday to raise the possibility of "snapback" sanctions unless Iran takes action, according to a letter shared by the French foreign ministry. The letter was first reported by the Financial Times and France's Le Monde newspaper. "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 said in the letter. They added that they had offered Iran a limited expansion to allow for direct negotiations between the United States and Iran, but that the offer had remained unanswered by Iran so far. The three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran - from which the United States withdrew in 2018 - that lifted sanctions on the Middle Eastern country in return for restrictions on its nuclear programme. The E3's warning comes after "serious, frank and detailed" talks with Iran in Istanbul last month, the first face-to-face meeting since Israeli and U.S. strikes on the country's nuclear sites in June. Iranian lawmaker 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. 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 in June, Tehran said its lawmakers were preparing a bill that could push it towards exiting the treaty, ratified by Tehran in 1970. The treaty guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forego atomic weapons and cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.
Saudi Gazette
4 days ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
UK, France and Germany ready to reimpose sanctions on Iran over nuclear program
LONDON — The UK, France and Germany have told the UN they are ready to reimpose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program if it fails to resume talks by the end of August. The three countries, known as the E3, said they were prepared to trigger a "snapback" mechanism - meaning previous sanctions would be reinstated - unless Iran resumes negotiations. The E3 said they had offered to extend a deadline for negotiations to the end of August, which they said Iran has not replied to. Iranian lawmaker Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran's parliament was ready to withdraw from a nuclear deal which restricted its nuclear program if new sanctions were put in place, the Iranian Defa Press news agency reported. The E3's letter comes after initial talks between their delegations and Iranian diplomats took place in Istanbul, Turkey last month. In the letter to the UN and its chief António Guterres, three foreign ministers - Jean-Noël Barrot from France, David Lammy from the UK and Johann Wadephul from Germany - said they would enforce severe sanctions on Iran unless it agrees to limit its nuclear E3 said their offer of an extension to the negotiations "remained unanswered by Iran"."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, the E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism," the letter added they were committed to using "all diplomatic tools" to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon - something Iran has denied intending to month, Iran said it was prepared for further talks but only once sanctions already in place were lifted and its right to a civilian nuclear programme was on Iran's nuclear programme were previously lifted in 2015 after Iran signed a nuclear deal with the E3, the US, Russia and China, agreeing limits on its nuclear operations and to allow international inspectors entry to its nuclear sites. The deal is due to expire in US withdrew from the deal in 2018 during President Donald Trump's first term, with the leader saying it did too little to stop Iran from creating a pathway to a nuclear its withdrawal, all US sanctions were re-imposed on retaliated by increasingly breaching the restrictions. In May, the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said it had more than 400kg of uranium enriched to 60% purity - well above the level used for civilian purposes and close to weapons June Iran's parliament suspended cooperation with the IAEA after tensions with Israel and the US came to a launched attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities the same month, triggering a 12-day US bombed a number of Iran's nuclear sites, bringing US-Iran talks to an abrupt the strikes, the E3 countries stepped up warnings to Iran about its suspension of cooperation with the BBC has contacted the UK Foreign Office for Iranian mission to the UN did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment. — BBC
