France, Germany and Britain have told the UN they are ready to reinstate sanctions on Iran if it does not return to negotiations with the international community over its nuclear programme.
France, Germany and Britain have told the UN 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 UN on Tuesday to raise the possibility of “snapback” sanctions unless Iran takes action, said 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 in June that ended 12 days of an Iran-Israel air war. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can no longer conduct on-site inspections since Iran stopped co-operating with them after the conflict.
The letter complained that Iran was failing to carry out its commitments under a nuclear deal agreed to in 2015. After striking Iran on June 22, the White House claimed it had obliterated Iran's nuclear programme, but those claims have been contradicted by intelligence reports which say it has only been set back by months.
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 the 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.
There is a perception that Iran may be ignoring the E3 proposal for an extension because it believes that the impact of a decision to reimpose sanctions would be minimal. Iran is already under a US embargo that applies around the globe.
