TEHRAN: Iran has no plans to abandon uranium enrichment while any move to re-impose international sanctions on Iran would not only be without legal ground but would also make the situation over its nuclear programme “more complex”, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi warned on Tuesday.

He expressed these views ahead of a meeting on Friday with three European states known as the E3 — Britain, France and Germany, which had announced plan to invoke a “snapback” mechanism if progress not achieved by the end of August.

The “snapback” mechanism is a process that would re-impose UN sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under a 2015 deal among six world powers in return for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme though the US unilaterally decided to exit the deal in 2018, rendering it ineffective.

“We will express our position regarding the E3’s comments on the snapback mechanism, which we think lacks any legal ground,” Gharibabadi said, referring to Friday’s meeting in Istanbul.

Says snapcheck mechanism lacks legal ground

“Nonetheless, our effort will be to see if we can find common solutions to manage the situation.”

“It has been seven years that the nuclear deal is not being implemented by the Europeans, following the US departure from it. How can they argue that Iran is not following the deal when they themselves have not done so?” Gharibabadi added.

The three European countries along with China and Russia are the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal from which the United States had already withdrawn.

Tehran hosted China and Russia officials to discuss its nuclear programme. The Friday meeting with E3 will be the first since Israel and the Unites Stated carried out strikes on nuclear facilities inside Iran, which claimed its nuclear programme is “solely meant for civilian purposes”.

For now, enrichment “is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News. “But obviously we cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists,” he added, calling it a source of “national pride”.

US President Donald Trump responded to the comments on his platform Truth Social, saying Washington would carry out strikes again “if necessary”.

The 2015 agreement, reached between Iran and UN Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

However, it unravelled in 2018 when the United States, during Trump’s first term, unilaterally withdrew and re-imposed sweeping sanctions.

In recent weeks, the three European powers have threatened to reimpose international sanctions on Tehran, accusing it of breaching its nuclear commitments.

Germany said the Istanbul talks would be at the expert level, with E3, working “flat out” to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution. “If no solution is reached by the end of August... the snapback also remains an option for the E3,” said its foreign ministry spokesman, Martin Giese.

A clause in the 2015 agreement allows for UN sanctions on Iran to be re-imposed through a “snapback” mechanism in the event of non-compliance.

However, the agreement expires in October, leaving a tight deadline.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2025