Iran says ‘working with China and Russia’ to stop European sanctions

Iran said Thursday it was working with China and Russia to prevent the snapback of European sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme after Britain, France and Germany threatened to reimpose them.

“We will try to prevent it,” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said in an interview with state TV.

“We are working with China and Russia to stop it. If this does not work and they apply it, we have tools to respond. We will discuss them in due course.”

The trio of European powers, known as the E3, told the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday that they were ready to reimpose sanctions on Tehran if no diplomatic solution was found by the end of August.

All three were signatories to a 2015 deal that lifted sanctions in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme.

The agreement, which terminates in October, includes a “snapback mechanism” allowing sanctions to be restored.

“We have made clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism,” the group’s foreign ministers said in the letter.

“If Iran continues to violate its international obligations, France and its German and British partners will reimpose the global embargoes on arms, nuclear equipment and banking restrictions that were lifted 10 years ago at the end of August,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot posted on X on Wednesday.

Araghchi said the return of sanctions would be “negative” but that the predicted economic effects “have been exaggerated”.

– ‘Legally justified’ –

The 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, effectively collapsed after US President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 during his first term and restored crippling sanctions.

European countries attempted to keep the deal alive, while Iran initially stuck to the terms before later ramping up its uranium enrichment.

Earlier this year, the United States joined Israel in bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities. Israel launched its attacks while Washington and Tehran were still pursuing nuclear talks, which have not since resumed.

Western powers have long accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge the Iranian government strongly denies.

Even before Israel attacked Iran, they had raised concerns about the lack of access given to inspectors from the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran halted all cooperation with the IAEA after the strikes.

Last month, Araghchi sent a letter to the UN saying the European countries did not have the legal right to restore sanctions.

The European ministers called the claim “unfounded”.

They insisted that, as JCPOA signatories, they would be “clearly and unambiguously legally justified in using relevant provisions” of UN resolutions “to trigger UN snapback to reinstate UNSC resolutions against Iran which would prohibit enrichment and re-impose UN sanctions.”

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