Britain, France and Germany have agreed to restore punishing U.N. sanctions on Iran by the end of August if there is no concrete progress on a deal to limit its nuclear activities, according to Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot of France.
The announcement was part of an effort to push Tehran into renewed negotiations on restricting its nuclear program. Mr. Barrot said France and its partners that remain in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal were “justified in reapplying global embargoes on arms, banks and nuclear equipment that were lifted 10 years ago” under the deal, which expires in mid-October.
“Without a firm, tangible and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest,” Mr. Barrot said on Tuesday in Brussels.
After Israel and the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites last month, Iran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors left. They try to monitor Iran’s nuclear program and its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, some of which is near-bomb-grade and could eventually produce up to 10 nuclear weapons, the agency has said.
Iran must allow inspections under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but the inspectors also monitored its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, and its violations of that agreement.
The Europeans are hoping that the prospect of restored multilateral sanctions will persuade Iran to restore its cooperation with the agency and also renew serious negotiations on restricting or eliminating its ability to enrich uranium. So far, there has been no progress since the bombings to renew talks between Iran and the United States on a new nuclear deal.
These multilateral sanctions are severe, especially on top of American sanctions already in place. They would obligate Iranian allies like Russia and China to at least make a show of respecting them and would further damage Iran’s already limping economy.
The United States and its allies fear that a nuclear-armed Iran will increase tensions in the Middle East and contribute to instability in the region. Iranian leaders maintain that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but some in the government now view atomic weapons as a deterrent against perceived threats or attacks.
Iran has said that it sees no legal basis to reimpose sanctions, and that if snapback sanctions are restored, it will leave the nonproliferation treaty. Its exit requires a lead time of three months that could be used for negotiations.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of Iran has said recently that talks with Washington could resume if Tehran had “a firm guarantee” that it would not be attacked again, something that the United States or Israel are unlikely to promise.
President Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal in 2018, during his first term, though it still is supposed to bind the other signatories, including China, Iran and Russia. But any signatory that is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council can start a process of restoring those sanctions, known as “snapback.” And that process cannot be vetoed.
The end of August deadline would start a process that allows for 30 days of negotiations before the sanctions are restored, giving the Europeans leverage over Iran. After that, unless the Council passes a resolution to continue sanctions relief, all U.N. sanctions automatically resume — no veto can stop it. The sanctions snapback would be triggered under Chapter VII of the U.N. charter, making the reinstatement mandatory.
But time is short because European officials want to conclude the process before Russia, an ally of Iran’s, takes over the presidency of the Security Council for the month of October. The possibility of prompting snapback sanctions will expire in mid-October along with Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the nuclear deal and includes the mechanism for snapback.
The European foreign ministers have discussed their plans with their American counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The State Department confirmed the call and said that the ministers discussed “ensuring Iran does not develop or obtain a nuclear weapon.” The Trump administration for now sees the threat of snapback sanctions as useful leverage that might bring Iranian officials back to talks.
But the Europeans could go ahead even without American approval, since Washington could not stop the renewal of snapback sanctions even if it wanted to.
Sanctions that would snap back include an embargo on conventional arms sales to Iran, restrictions on ballistic missile tests, the restoration of asset freezes on key individuals involved in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, financial and banking restrictions and bans on uranium enrichment or reprocessing, including at the research or development level.
Steven Erlanger is the chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe and is based in Berlin. He has reported from over 120 countries, including Thailand, France, Israel, Germany and the former Soviet Union.
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