Iran, Europeans to meet amid snapback sanctions threat

TEHRAN: Iran will meet next week with Britain, France and Germany for talks on its nuclear programme, the parties said Friday, as the European powers warned Tehran to engage swiftly to avoid snapback sanctions.

The Islamic republic suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency in July in the wake of its 12-day war with Israel, citing the UN nuclear watchdog’s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.

The European trio — parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — have threatened to trigger a “snapback mechanism” by the end of August.

The move would reimpose sweeping UN sanctions lifted under the 2015 agreement unless Iran agrees to curb its uranium enrichment and restore cooperation with IAEA inspectors.

“It was agreed that Iran’s talks with the three European countries and the European Union would continue next Tuesday at the level of deputy foreign ministers,” Iran’s foreign ministry said after a phone call between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and senior European diplomats.

France confirmed the talks and cautioned that Iran faced a narrowing window of time.

“We have just made an important call to our Iranian counterpart regarding the nuclear programme and the sanctions against Iran that we are preparing to reimpose,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on X, noting he was joined on the call by his British and German counterparts and the EU’s top diplomat.

“Time is running out. A new meeting will take place next week on this issue,” he added.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on X that his country remained “committed to diplomacy but time is very short”.

“Iran needs to engage substantively in order to avoid the activation of snapback,” he said. “We have been clear that we will not let the snapback of sanctions expire unless there is a verifiable and durable deal.”

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, similarly said: “With the deadline for the snapback mechanism fast approaching, Iran’s readiness to engage with the US is crucial. Iran must also fully cooperate” with the IAEA.

It was not immediately clear where the talks, the second since the Iran-Israel war, would take place.

Iran warns snapback consequences

Israel in June launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear, military and civilian sites, prompting Tehran to respond with missile strikes on Israel.

The United States also joined its ally Israel, targeting key Iranian nuclear sites deep within the country.

Iran and the European trio — known as the E3 — held talks in late July at the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, which Tehran described as “frank”.

Israel’s war with Iran derailed its nuclear negotiations with the United States.

The 2015 nuclear deal was aimed preventing Iran from developing an atomic bomb — an ambition it has consistently denied.

The deal was torpedoed in 2018 by Donald Trump, during his first term as president, unilaterally withdrew the United States from the agreement and slapped sanctions on its economy.

Iran has ever since criticised the European parties, over failing to meet their commitments under the deal.

Araghchi reiterated Friday the “lack of legal and moral competence of these countries to resort to the said mechanism” while warning about “the consequences of such an action”.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said in an interview published on Friday that the Europeans are “carrying out part of America’s operations” by pursuing the snapback mechanism.

Iran has previously said it would leave the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) if the E3 activate the snapback mechanism.

Larijani said in the interview on the supreme leader’s website that “the possibility has always existed” for Iran to leave the NPT, but it has remained committed to the treaty even though it bears “no benefit” for Tehran.

Tehran has argued that NPT membership grants it the right to enrich uranium, which Washington considers a red line.

The deadline for activating the mechanism ends in October, though Europeans have set an internal target of the end of August, while also offering an extension to buy time for talks.

Araghchi said Friday that “this is a decision that must essentially be taken by the United Nations Security Council; and while the Islamic Republic of Iran has its own principled positions and views in this regard, it is not involved in this process.”

Larijani rejected the prospect of an extension, saying: “Iran truly does not accept this.”