European Powers Trigger UN Sanctions Snapback on Iran

On August 28, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom began a process to restore UN sanctions on Iran related to its nuclear program. This will further isolate Tehran after its nuclear facilities were repeatedly bombed during a 12-day war with Israel.

This mechanism, which diplomats who included it in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have called "snapback," is designed so that it cannot be vetoed at the UN and will likely come into force.

If the European countries restore sanctions against Iran related to its nuclear program, Iran's assets abroad will be frozen, and arms deals with Tehran will be halted. This will be a serious blow to the development of Iran's ballistic missile program, among other measures.

"This measure does not mean the end of diplomacy; we are determined to make the most of the 30-day period that is now opening for dialogue with Iran," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on the social platform X.

Tehran immediately condemned the move. In a phone call with his European counterparts, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that it is "unfounded" and "has no legal basis."

"The Islamic Republic of Iran will respond appropriately to this illegal and unfounded measure," he said. Hours later, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that this step by the European countries would "seriously harm" ongoing cooperation with the UN's nuclear watchdog agency.

In the past, Iran has threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, possibly following the example of North Korea, which left the treaty in 2003 and subsequently developed nuclear weapons.

According to European sources, before the June war, Iran was enriching uranium to 60% purity, just a short technical step away from the 90% level needed for weapons. It had also accumulated enough highly enriched uranium to produce several atomic bombs if Tehran decided to do so.