The start of European nations process to impose a “snapback” of Iranian nuclear sanctions
By Farnoush Amiri, Jon Gambrell and Stephanie Liechtenstein, Associated Press
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP) – France, Germany and the United Kingdom began a process on Thursday to repress the United Nations sanctions against Iran on its nuclear program, insulating Tehran more after its 12 -day war with Israel saw its atomic sites bombed several times.
The mechanism, called “snapback” by the diplomats who negotiated it in the 2015 nuclear agreement of 2015 with the world powers, was designed to be waterproof and is likely to enter into force.
He would once again freeze Iranian assets abroad, interrupted agreements with Tehran and penalize any development of his ballistic missile program, among other measures, by tightening the country’s underlying economy more.
“We will use the 30 -day period to continue to interact with Iran on our extension offer, or on serious diplomatic efforts to restore the compliance of Iran to its commitments,” the three nations said in a joint statement. They called the non-compliance of Tehran “clear and deliberate”.
The European move begins a 30 -day clock for sanctions to return, a period that will likely see an intensified diplomacy of Iran, whose refusal to cooperate with inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency began the crisis. The United Nations General Assembly in September will also consider Iran as a higher objective.
Europeans have warned that Iran’s “snapback” could come
The three European nations warned on August 8 that Iran could trigger Snapback when it interrupted the inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency after the Israeli strikes at the start of the 12 -day war of the two countries in June. The Israeli attacks then killed the best military leaders in Tehran and saw the supreme chief of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hiding.
Iran threatened Thursday before the announcement of abandoning all cooperation with the IAEA if the “snapback” is advancing.
“We told them that if this was happening, the path we have opened to work with the IAEA will be fully affected and the process will probably be stopped,” Kazem Gharibada, a vice-minister of foreign affairs, told State Television. “If they opt for Snapback, it makes no sense for Iran to continue working with them.”
The use of the “Snapback” mechanism will probably increase tensions further between Iran and the West in a region that still burns over the War of Israel-Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“The United States and its European partners see invoke” snapback “as a means of keeping Iran strategically weak and incapable of reconstructing the nuclear program damaged by the United States and Israeli strikes,” the Soufan Center, based in New York, said on Thursday.
“Iranian leaders perceive a snapback of sanctions as a Western effort to weaken the indefinite of the Iran economy indefinitely and perhaps stimulate enough popular disorders to overthrow the Iran regime,” he added.
Iran seems to be resigned
Iran first minimized the threat of renewals of the sanctions and has embarked on a few visible diplomacy for weeks after Europe’s warning, but has embarked on a brief diplomatic push in recent days, highlighting chaos grabbing its theocracy.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, reported Iran’s fatalistic vision of his diplomacy with the West, stressing that Israel triggered the war just like a sixth cycle of negotiations with the United States was to take place.
“Weren’t we in talks when war occurred?” Araghchi said last week to the Irna news agency managed by the State. “Sometimes the war is inevitable and diplomacy is not able to prevent it.”
In Tehran on Thursday, the Iranian Rial currency exchanged more than a million to $ 1. At the time of the 2015 agreement, it was negotiated at $ 32,000, showing the precipitous collapse of the currency over time. The Rial reached its lowest point of all time in April at 1,043,000 Rials at $ 1.
Apart from a currency store in Tehran, the resident Arman Vasheghani Farahani told the Associated Press that “many of us feel a deep feeling of uncertainty and despair” on the collapse of the currency triggered by nuclear tensions.
“Should we continue to try, or is it time to give up?” And how long will this situation last? ” He asked. “No civil servant seems willing to assume responsibility for what’s going on.”
In question is the nuclear enrichment of Iran
Before the June War, Iran enriched uranium up to 60% purity – a short technical step in the quality levels of 90%. He also built a stock containing enough uranium highly enriched to build several atomic bombs, if she chooses to do so.
Iran long insisted that its program is peaceful, although the Western nations and the AIEA assess that Tehran had an active nuclear weapons program until 2003.
It is not known how Israel and the United States strike on nuclear sites during the war have disrupted the Iranian program.
Under the 2015 agreement, Iran agreed to allow the AIEA even greater access to its nuclear program than those of the agency in other member countries. This included the installation of cameras and sensors permanently on nuclear sites.
But IEA inspectors, who have faced growing restrictions on its activities since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement in 2018, have not yet reached these sites. Meanwhile, Iran said that it had moved uranium and other equipment before strikes – perhaps to new unsuccessful sites that raise the risk that monitors can lose track of the program status.
On Wednesday, IAEA inspectors were on site to monitor a fuel replacement for the Iranian Nuclear Reactor from Bushehr, which is managed with Russian technical assistance.
European nations face the deadline
The Snapback mechanism of the agreement would expire on October 18, and the three European nations probably thought that the time to act. Under the mechanism, any party to the agreement can find Iran in non-compliance, triggering renewed sanctions.
After his expiration, any effort of sanctions would be confronted with a veto of members of the United Nations Security Council in China and Russia – the countries which have supported Iran in the past but remained outside the war of June. China has also remained a major Iranian crude oil buyer, which could be affected in the “snapback” occurs.
In recent days, Russia has launched a proposal to extend the lifespan of the United Nations resolution to grant the “snapback” power. Russia should also take the presidency of the United Nations Security Council in October, probably exerting additional pressure on Europeans to act.
Amiri reported New York and Liechtenstein de Vienne. The writers of the associated press Amir Vahdat and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage of the New York Corporation Carnegie and the Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
