Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said on Saturday that the UK, France, and Germany’s effort to re-impose UN Security Council sanctions on Iran may lead Tehran to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The statement came a day after the UN Security Council voted against a resolution to permanently lift sanctions on Iran. The resolution would have blocked the triggering of the “snapback” mechanism of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, which will re-impose UN sanctions on Iran on September 28 unless the UK, France, and Germany decide to delay the measures.
The three European countries, known as the E3, had asked Iran to restart cooperation with the IAEA and resume negotiations with the US to offset the sanctions. Tehran suspended cooperation with the IAEA in the wake of the US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran over the agency’s role in providing a pretext for the initial attack and its lack of condemnation of the US and Israeli bombings of Iranian nuclear sites. Tehran also suspects that Israel obtained information about the Iranian nuclear scientists it assassinated from the IAEA.
Iran recently signed a new deal with the IAEA to restart cooperation, but it does not appear to have placated the E3 countries. “Despite [Iranian] Foreign Ministry’s cooperation with the Agency and the proposals presented to settle the [nuclear] issue, the actions of European countries have effectively suspended the path of cooperation with the Agency,” Iran’s SNSC said.
Regarding talks with the US, Iranian officials have said they would be willing to resume negotiations if they can receive assurances that they won’t be used as cover to launch another war. Israel began the 12-Day War with a surprise attack on June 13, two days before the US and Iran were set to hold another round of talks.
The SNSC said the triggering of the snapback sanctions was “ill-considered.” Iranian officials have argued that the E3 doesn’t have the right to impose the sanctions since the US was the party that withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018.
Some Iranian officials have warned that if snapback sanctions are re-imposed, Tehran could withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a step that could be used by Israel and the US as a pretext to launch another war, even though Israel is not a signatory to the NPT. Unlike Iran, Israel actually has a secret nuclear weapons program and a stockpile of nuclear weapons that’s not officially acknowledged by the US and Israel.
