Iranian nuclear deal: Europeans begin reinstating sanctions against Tehran

The three countries, dubbed the E3, "wish to notify the Security Council that, based on factual evidence, the E3 believes that Iran is in a position of significant non-compliance with its commitments" under the 2015 nuclear agreement, the JCPOA, and "thereby invoke the mechanism known as snapback," which opens a 30-day process to reimpose a series of sanctions suspended 10 years ago, the letter states.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry denounced the Europeans' decision as "unjustified and illegal," as did the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, who said it had "absolutely no legal basis."

Israel, on the other hand, welcomed "an important step towards stopping Iran's nuclear programme".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was open to "direct" talks with Iran "to find a peaceful and lasting solution to the Iranian nuclear issue."

Signed by the E3, Iran, the United States, China and Russia, the JCPOA suspends various international economic sanctions imposed by the UN against Iran.

The Iranian government, which had launched a secret nuclear program, is accused of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a claim it denies. The agreement was denounced in 2018 by the United States, which reinstated its own sanctions regime.

The E3 threatened to reinstate sanctions just weeks before the possibility of using them under the JCPOA expired, and after the Israeli and US bombing campaign in June against Iranian program sites.

Towards an additional delay?

They hope to push Iran into concessions while diplomacy is at a standstill: US-Iran negotiations are bogged down, Tehran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is limited, and discussions between Tehran and the Europeans are making no progress.

"In July 2025, the E3 put on the table an offer to extend UN Resolution 2231 governing the JCPOA and its snapback mechanism. The demands set by the E3 in return for this extension, including the resumption of negotiations, compliance by Iran with its obligations to the IAEA, and measures to address our concerns regarding the stockpile of highly enriched uranium, have not yet been satisfactorily met by Iran," the three foreign ministers wrote in a separate joint statement.

Denouncing "a major risk of proliferation", they claim to have made "every possible effort to break the impasse" for several years.

"Iran's nuclear escalation must not go any further," the French foreign minister said on Thursday, while the fate of 400 kilos of 60% uranium, enough to make nine bombs, remains unknown since they were targeted by Israeli and American bombings in June.

However, "this measure does not signal the end of diplomacy: we are determined to take advantage of the thirty-day period that is opening to dialogue with Iran," asserts Jean-Noël Barrot.

“Play climbing”?

It is in the Iranians' interest "to use these 30 days to make an effort," a French diplomatic source explained. "I think they will be tempted to escalate the situation, at least in part," she warned, "but if we do nothing, the Iranian nuclear issue will be removed from the UN forever."

"We now expect from Iran" "full cooperation with the IAEA," a "clear commitment to negotiations with the United States," and certainty about the fate of Iran's uranium stockpile, German Minister Johann Wadephul explained on X.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for this 30-day "window of opportunity" to be seized to avoid the reinstatement of sanctions.

But Tehran says the move "will seriously jeopardize the ongoing process of interaction and cooperation" with the IAEA.

"The Iranians are sticking to their maximalist position, which is to not allow any new cooperation with the IAEA. Can there be negotiations within 30 days? That's everyone's goal, but the Iranians must abandon this maximalist position," Héloïse Fayet, a nuclear researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), analyses for AFP.

The 30-day deadline will expire during the UN General Assembly's "high-level week" meetings in New York from September 22 to 30, which will bring together dozens of world leaders.