TEHRAN, August 20. /TASS/. Iran has developed measures together with Russia and China, which would be adopted in case the snapback mechanism reinstating the UN Security Council's sanctions on Tehran is activated, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

"Yes, the snapback mechanism may eventually be activated - I don’t rule it out. We have been working on the issue for several years together with China and Russia. We have held several meetings and developed a package of measures, which will be adopted if the snapback is triggered," he pointed out in an interview with the IRNA news agency.

The Axios news website reported on July 16, citing sources, that the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France had agreed to set the end of August as the deadline for reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. Otherwise, the European trio plans to launch the snapback mechanism that will reinstate the UN Security Council’s sanctions on Tehran, which were lifted based on the 2015 agreements.

In 2015, Iran, along with China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the US signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), resolving a crisis that had begun in 2002 amid Western accusations that Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons. However, in 2018, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s withdrawal from the JCPOA and reinstated all sanctions against Iran. In response, Tehran declared in 2020 that it would scale back its commitments under the JCPOA and restrict International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors’ access to the country’s nuclear facilities.

Iran and the US held five rounds of talks on the nuclear issue in 2025, which ended without result due to the launch of Israel’s military operation against Iran and subsequent US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Meanwhile, the so-called European trio (France, Germany and the UK) also held talks with Tehran but proved unable to mediate a new nuclear agreement.