Germany, France and the United Kingdom are threatening to restore international sanctions against Iran if no agreement is reached before the end of August. In a letter addressed to the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and to the Security Council, the ministers Johann Wadephul, Jean-Noël Barrot and David Lammy recall that the diplomatic path remains their priority. However, they warn that they will trigger the mechanism provided for by resolution 2231 if Tehran refuses to seize this last chance.
Read :: Nuclear: Iran suspends all cooperation with the IAEA
This position comes two months after Israeli and American strikes against Iranian nuclear sites. These attacks stopped discussions between Tehran, Washington and European capitals. Subsequently, Iran suspended its cooperation, already limited, with the International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA).
The three countries recall that the 2015 agreement imposed strict limits on the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for a gradual lifting of sanctions. However, the United States withdrew in 2018, under the chairmanship of Donald Trump, and restored its sanctions. Since then, Tehran has largely exceeded the fixed thresholds.
According to IEA, Iran today has a stock of uranium enriched forty times higher than the authorized ceiling. In addition, the enrichment rate reaches 60 %, while the agreement set the limit to 3.67 %. More than sixty reports published since 2019 confirm these differences, which Europeans deem very worrying.
Tehran says that Europeans do not have legitimacy to reactivate sanctions. However, Paris, London and Berlin believe to have a clear legal basis to act. They had proposed to repel the deadline if Iran resumed negotiations and restored its cooperation with the AIAA. Nevertheless, no answer has reached this day.
