France, Germany, UK Letter To UN Declaring Ready For Iran Sanctions On Nuclear Issues

UNSPLASH/Akbar ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - France, Germany, and Britain wrote a letter to the United Nations (UN) to state their readiness to reimpose sanctions on Iran if the country does not re-negotiate with the international community on its nuclear program.

Foreign ministers from a group called E3 wrote a letter to the United Nations on Tuesday to discuss a possible re-implementation of "snapback" sanctions unless Iran takes action, according to a letter shared by the French Foreign Ministry.

The letter was first reported by the Financial Times and French Le Monde newspaper.

"We have confirmed that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not take advantage of the opportunity for an extension, E3 is ready to trigger a snapshotback mechanism," the ministers said in the letter.

The E3 has offered Iran limited expansion to allow for direct negotiations between the United States and Iran, but Iran has yet to respond to the offer so far.

The three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties in the 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran which was later withdrawn by the United States in 2018 which lifted sanctions against the Middle Eastern country in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

The E3 warning comes after negotiations with Iran in Istanbul last month, the first face-to-face meeting since the Israeli and US attacks on the country's nuclear sites in June.

Iranian lawmaker Man Vincehr Mottaki, who served as foreign minister from 2005 to 2010, said Iran's parliament was willing to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if international sanctions were reinstated after E3 implemented a snapshotback mechanism.

Mottaki told Defa Press, Iran's semi-official agency, parliament would approve a bill to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal within 24 hours if E3 implemented a snapshotback mechanism.

During a 12-day war with Israel in June, Tehran said its lawmakers were preparing a bill that could prompt it to exit Tehran-ratified agreements in 1970.

The agreement guarantees the rights of countries to develop civilian nuclear power in exchange for requiring them to abandon atomic weapons and cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.