PARIS: Britain, France and Germany have told the United Nations they are ready to reimpose UN-mandated sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme if no diplomatic solution is found by the end of August, according to a joint letter obtained by AFP.
The letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council says the three European powers are “committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon” unless Tehran meets the deadline.
The foreign ministers from the so-called E3 group threaten to use a “snapback mechanism” that was part of a 2015 international deal with Iran that eased UN Security Council sanctions.
Under the deal, which terminates in October, any party to the accord can restore the sanctions.
All three have stepped up warnings to Iran about its suspension of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
That came after Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran in June, partly seeking to destroy its nuclear capability. The United States staged its own bombing raid during the war.
“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,” foreign ministers Jean-Noel Barrot of France, David Lammy of Britain and Johann Wadephul of Germany said in the letter.
All three countries were signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with the United States, China and Russia that offered the carrot and stick deal for Iran to slow its enrichment of uranium needed for a nuclear weapon.
President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in 2018 during his first term and ordered new sanctions.
The European countries said they would stick to the accord. But their letter sets out engagements that the ministers say Iran has breached, including building up a uranium stock more than 40 times the permitted level under the 2015 deal.
