Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused Britain, France and Germany of pursuing a “reckless” strategy on his country’s nuclear programme, warning that their alignment with Washington will only diminish Europe’s global standing.
Writing in The Guardian on Sunday, Araghchi said the decision by the so-called E3 to trigger a process that could reinstate United Nations sanctions “lacks any legal standing” and is bound to fail.
“The truth is that they are intently pursuing a reckless course of action … This is a grave miscalculation that is bound to backfire,” Araghchi wrote.
In August, Germany, France and the United Kingdom – Europe’s largest economies – triggered a 30-day process to activate “snapback” sanctions over what they called “significant” violations of a 2015 agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear programme.
The United States, which bombed three nuclear facilities in June as part of an Israeli assault on Iran, has welcomed the European countries’ move.
Araghchi accused the three powers of ignoring the fact that it was the US, not Iran, that withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). While Tehran took what he described as “lawful remedial measures” under the accord, the E3 failed to uphold their own obligations.
Araghchi noted that European leaders once pledged to protect trade with Iran after US President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions in 2018. “None of it materialised,” he wrote, adding that Europe’s promises of “strategic autonomy” collapsed under US pressure.
Instead, he argued, Europe has acted as a bystander, cheering Washington’s aggressive approach. “Openly cheerleading illegal military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities protected by international law – as Germany’s chancellor has done – does not constitute ‘participation’” in the deal, he wrote.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested in June that the West is benefitting from the Israeli assault against Iran.
“This is dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us,” he said.
Araghchi stressed in his Guardian column that Tehran remains open to dialogue. “[Iran] is ready to forge a realistic and lasting bargain that entails ironclad oversight and curbs on enrichment in exchange for the termination of sanctions,” he said.
He cautioned that ignoring this chance could plunge the region into deeper instability, especially amid escalating tensions with Israel. “The powerful armed forces of Iran are ready and able to once again pummel Israel into running to ‘daddy’ to be bailed out,” Araghchi warned, arguing that Israeli provocations risk dragging the US into costly conflicts.
The Trump administration had also claimed that the door remains open for talks with Iran.
“The United States remains available for direct engagement with Iran – in furtherance of a peaceful, enduring resolution to the Iran nuclear issue,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement following the E3 announcement on sanctions last month.
“Snapback does not contradict our earnest readiness for diplomacy, it only enhances it.”
A round of nuclear talks between US and Iranian officials was set to take place on June 15. But Israeli bombs started falling on Tehran two days before the scheduled negotiations, postponing them indefinitely.
Washington insists that Iran cannot enrich uranium domestically, but Iran insists that its right to enrichment is non-negotiable.
The 2015 nuclear deal – which Trump nixed during his first term as US president – gives Iran the right to enrich uranium at a low level for civilian purposes under a strict monitoring system.
The snapback mechanism in the JCPOA gave any party to the agreement – the US, UK, Germany, France, Russia or China – the power to kick-start a process to revive six UN Security Council sanctions resolutions.
And the snapback is veto-proof, meaning Russia and China, both allies of Iran, cannot block the restoration of the sanctions.
In 2020, the US tried to activate the snapback clause of the JCPOA, but the effort failed because Washington was no longer a participant in the agreement.
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