The U.K., France and Germany initiated the process to reimpose sanctions on Iran over nuclear violations, giving the U.N. Security Council 30 days to act.
Europe’s powerhouse trio, the U.K., France, and Germany (E3), on Thursday initiated the process to reimpose sweeping sanctions against Iran over its « significant non-compliance » with international nuclear agreements.
At 9 am EST, they submitted a letter to the president of the United Nations Security Council, Panama’s Ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba, notifying him of their intent to trigger the snapback sanctions mechanism enshrined under the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The action comes after months of warnings from European leaders, and years of calls from the U.S. dating back to the first Trump administration in 2018, flagging that Tehran was in violation of nuclear agreements made under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action though Iran’s record of non-compliance did not initiate until 2019 per findings by international nuclear watchdogs.
According to a U.K. official on Thursday, the decision to enforce snapback sanctions, which is expected to have severe consequences for Iran’s already flagging economy, was not a decision that was made « lightly. »
The official confirmed that there has been « very intense diplomacy » over the last « 12-months, 6-months, 6-weeks » that ultimately led to this decision – including three major factors like Tehran’s uranium stockpile levels, its operating of advanced centrifuges and its refusal to adhere to international inspection regulations – all of which are dictated under the JCPOA.
The official confirmed that in May Iran was found to have roughly 20,000 lbs of enriched uranium, including 900 lbs of near-weapons grade highly enriched uranium which is 45 times higher than the JCPOA limit of under 660 lbs of enriched uranium.
