France threatens Iran with UN sanctions by end of August

The National

2 days ago

France, the United Kingdom and Germany will launch the UN snapback mechanism on Iran to restore sanctions by the end of August if no concrete progress has been made on a nuclear deal by then, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday.
'It's a fact: Iran violated the obligations it took 10 years ago during negotiations on the Iranian nuclear [programme],' Mr Barrot said before a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
'So France and its partners are justified in reapplying global embargoes on arms, banks and nuclear equipment that were lifted 10 years ago. Without a firm, tangible and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest,' Mr Barrot added.
Inspectors from the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), must be allowed to return to Iran, and a diplomatic process must be launched that leads to a negotiated settlement on Iran's 'nuclear, ballistic and destabilising activities', Mr Barrot added.
The French minister was speaking one day after speaking about Iran with his UK and German counterparts – three European countries collectively known as the E3. 'They agreed on the need to maintain close co-ordination on the next steps, with decisions to be taken before the end of the summer,' French diplomatic sources said.
Under the terms of a UN resolution ratifying a 2015 nuclear pact, the deadline for the three European powers to reimpose UN sanctions against Tehran is October 18, 2025.
Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron co-ordinated the next steps on Iran's nuclear programme with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, in their first call in nearly three years.
The two-hour discussion between the leaders, who stopped talking after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, was dictated by the urgency of the situation in Iran after the US intervened in support of Israel's air war with Iran by bombing nuclear facilities.
Mr Macron recently aligned with US views that Iran should be allowed zero enrichment, even for civilian purposes. Mr Putin, an Iranian ally, said in his call to Mr Macron that it was necessary to respect Iran's right to the peaceful development of nuclear energy. However media reports later claimed that Mr Putin had also voiced support for the idea of an accord in which Tehran would be barred from enriching uranium.
Iran says its programme is peaceful but Israel and the US say it was months away from producing a nuclear bomb, an assessment that has not been publicly made by Europeans.
Following US and Israeli strikes, the Iranian Parliament passed a law stipulating that inspection of Iran's nuclear sites by the IAEA needs approval by the Supreme National Security Council, its top security body.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said Iran's co-operation with the UN body has not stopped but would take a new form. Speaking on Saturday, he warned that any move by Britain, France and Germany to reimpose international sanctions through the snapback mechanism would 'end Europe's role' in Iran's nuclear issue.
Iran will not agree to any nuclear deal that does not allow it to enrich uranium and will only agree to talks limited to its nuclear programme and not encompassing defence issues such as its missiles, Mr Araghchi added. This position is at odds with France's demands, which wants a broad deal.