PARIS: Britain, France and Germany launched a 30-day process on Thursday to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, a step likely to stoke tensions two months after Israel and the United States bombed Iran.

A senior Iranian official quickly accused the three European powers of harming diplomacy and vowed that Tehran would not bow to pressure over the move by the E3 to launch the “snapback mechanism”.

The three powers feared they would otherwise lose the prerogative in mid-October to restore sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under a 2015 nuclear accord with world powers.

French Foreign Min­i­ster Jean-Noel Barrot said the decision did not signal the end of diplomacy. His German counterpart Johann Wadephul urged Iran to now fully cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog agency and commit to direct talks with the United States over the next month.

‘Illegal and regrettable’

A senior Iranian official said the decision was “illegal and regrettable”, but left the door open for eng­a­­­gement.

“The move is an action against diplomacy, not a chance for it. Diplomacy with Europe will continue,” the official said, adding: “Iran will not concede under pressure.” The UN Security Council is due to meet behind closed doors on Friday at the request of the E3 to discuss the snapback move, diplomats said.

Iran and the E3 have held several rounds of talks since Israel and the US bombed its nuclear installations in mid-June, aiming to agree to defer the snapback mechanism. But the E3 deemed that talks in Geneva on Tue­sday did not yield sufficient signals of readiness for a new deal from Iran.

The E3 acted over accusations that Iran has violated the 2015 deal that aimed to prevent it developing a nuclear weapons capability in return for a lifting of international san­­­c­­tions. The E3, along with Russia, China and the United States, were party to that accord.

President Donald Tru­mp pulled Washington out of that accord in 2018 during his first term, calling the deal one-sided in Ira­n’s favour, and it unravelled in ensuing years as Iran abandoned limits set on its enrichment of uranium.

Trump’s second administration held fruitless indirect negotiations earlier this year with Tehran.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the E3 move and said Was­h­­­ington remained available for direct engagement with Iran “in furtherance of a peaceful, enduring res­­­olution to the Iran nuclear issue”. An Iranian source said Tehran would do so only “if Washington guarant­ees there will be no (military) strikes during the talks”.

The E3 said they hoped Iran would engage by the end of September to allay concerns about its agenda suff­­iciently for th­­­­em to def­­­er act­ion.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2025