WASHINGTON, August 28. /TASS/. The foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the UK, as well as the EU diplomatic service, notified US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of their intention to initiate the process of reinstating sanctions against Iran on August 28, Axios reported, citing sources.
According to the news outlet, the European countries hope to increase economic pressure on Tehran through this action, which will likely lead to retaliatory measures from Iran. The State Department has not yet responded to TASS' request for confirmation and comment on the matter.
Earlier, Reuters reported that the European troika countries might initiate the process of reinstating sanctions against Iran on August 28 because negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program have been unsuccessful. The news agency reported that the European troika intends to notify the UN Security Council of its decision in writing in the near future. Sanctions against Iran's financial, banking, energy, and defense sectors will be reinstated 30 days after that.
Earlier, the US and the European troika agreed to consider the end of August as the deadline for reaching a deal with Iran. Otherwise, they plan to activate the snapback mechanism, which would reinstate UN Security Council sanctions on Tehran. These sanctions were lifted based on the 2015 agreements. In turn, Iran threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the UN Security Council reinstates sanctions. Western countries may activate the snapback mechanism as early as October 18.
In 2015, Iran and several other countries signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), resolving a crisis that began in 2002 amid accusations by Western countries that Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons. However, in 2018, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s withdrawal from the JCPOA and reinstated sanctions against Iran. In response, Tehran declared in 2020 that it would scale back its commitments under the JCPOA and restrict IAEA inspectors’ access to the country’s nuclear facilities. Until the conflict with Israel in June, however, the IAEA continued its inspections. On August 26, Russia's acting permanent representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said that Moscow seeks to extend the validity of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which was adopted in support of the JCPOA, for six months, until April 18, 2026. This extension is intended to allow time to find a diplomatic solution to the issue of Iran's nuclear program.