UN economic and military sanctions have been reimposed on Iran over its atomic programme, a decade after they were lifted in a landmark international deal.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom triggered snapback 30 days ago for Iran further restricting monitoring of its nuclear programme and the deadlock over its negotiations with the US.
The three European nations on Sunday said they “continuously made every effort to avoid triggering snapback”, but Iran “has not authorised IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspectors to regain access to Iran’s nuclear sites, nor has it produced and transmitted to the IAEA a report accounting for its stockpile of high-enriched uranium”.
The nations also noted Iran enriches uranium at a level that no other peaceful programme does.
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The sanctions again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalise any development of Iran’s ballistic missile programme, among other measures.
It came through a mechanism known as “snapback”, included in Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, and comes as Iran’s economy already is reeling.
Iranian politician Ismail Kowsari said parliament will discuss withdrawing from the nuclear treaty. “Parliament will discuss this issue ... and decide on it,” he said.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf issued his own warning to those who would honour the UN sanctions as parliament began meeting on Sunday.
“We announce that if any country wants to take action against Iran based on these illegal resolutions, it will face serious reciprocal action from Iran, and the three European countries that are the initiators of this illegal action will also face our reaction,” he said, according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency.
Iran further withdrew from the IAEA monitoring after Israel’s war with the country in June that also saw the US strike nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic.
Meanwhile, the country still maintains a stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent purity – a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent – that is largely enough to make several atomic bombs.
Iran has long insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful, though the West and IAEA say Tehran had an organised weapons programme until 2003.
Asked if Iran’s withdrawal from the treaty means moving towards building the bomb, Mr Kowsari said: “No, it does not mean that. This issue will be reviewed separately later, and we can have it on the agenda if necessary.”
Tehran has argued the three European nations should not be allowed to implement snapback, pointing in part to America’s unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018 during the first term of president Donald Trump’s administration.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to Iranian state TV before the sanctions were imposed, sought to downplay the effect UN sanctions would have on the country.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio praised the three European nations for “an act of decisive global leadership” for imposing the sanctions on Iran and said “diplomacy is still an option”.
However, it remains unclear how Tehran will respond.
Meanwhile, people worry about a new round of fighting between Iran and Israel, as well as potentially the United States, as missile sites struck during the 12-day war in June now appear to be being rebuilt. – AP
