Iran Criticizes European Trio Plans To Impose International Sanctions

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh/PHOTO via X @SKatibzadeh

JAKARTA - Iran criticized European countries' move to impose international sanctions and would pave new roads by the end of the month if Tehran did not meet the requirements, including access to UN nuclear inspectors.

"What Europe is doing is biased and politically motivated. They are wrong at various levels by trying to abuse the mechanism contained in the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA)," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in Geneva.

European powers are likely to reimpose international sanctions on Iran by the end of this month after their final round of negotiations with Tehran aimed at preventing sanctions from being taken seriously.

according to French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.

Britain, France, and Germany, called the E3, launched a 30-day process at the end of August to reimpose UN sanctions.

They set conditions for Tehran to meet in September to convince them to postpone the "shuffleback mechanism".

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he had submitted a "reasonable and follow-up plan."

E3's bid to delay a six-month snapshot to allow serious negotiations to rely on Iran restoring access to UN nuclear inspectors who will also seek to account for Iran's largely enriched uranium stock and engage in negotiations with the US.

Khatibzadeh said all options were available if diplomacy failed.

"If Europe goes this way, they increase the level of uncertainty to the highest level, and they are responsible for any risks that may occur in the future," he said.

The UN Security Council will vote on Friday for a resolution that will permanently lift UN sanctions against Iran.

The resolution will most likely fail to get at least the nine votes it takes to pass, diplomats said.

But if successful, the resolution will be vetoed by the United States, Britain, or France.