The process, termed a “snapback” by the diplomats who negotiated it into Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, was designed to be veto-proof at the U.N. and could take effect as soon as October.
It would again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize any development of its ballistic missile program, among other measures, further squeezing the country’s reeling economy.
The move starts a 30-day clock for the sanctions to return, a period that likely will see intensified diplomacy from Iran, whose refusal to cooperate with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, started the crisis. Iran will also probably emerge as a top focus of the U.N. General Assembly when it meets next month in New York.
The British, French and German foreign ministers suggested that they viewed the snapback as a way to spur negotiations with Tehran.
"This measure does not signal the end of diplomacy: we are determined to make the most of the 30-day period that is now opening to engage in dialogue with Iran,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on the social platform X.
But Iran immediately decried the move, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi calling it “unjustified, illegal and lacking any legal basis" in a call with his European counterparts.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will respond appropriately to this unlawful and unwarranted measure,” he said. Hours later, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the move by the European countries will “gravely undermine” its ongoing cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
