As Iran deadline looms, here’s what to know about UN snapback sanctions
As the October JCPOA snapback deadline approaches, Western powers are weighing the use of the mechanism, while Iran warns that such a move would undermine progress toward a renewed nuclear deal.
As an October deadline approaches for the possible reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran, European powers are signaling they may invoke the UN Security Council's "snapback" mechanism — a provision of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Iran is threatening to respond.
After the 12-day Iran-Israel war ended with a ceasefire late last month, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France could still "reimpose a global embargo on weapons, nuclear equipment, and banking and insurance sectors in Iran, which were lifted 10 years ago.” Barrot called the snapback mechanism “powerful leverage.” A French diplomatic source told Reuters last week that European powers would look to reactivate UN sanctions if a new nuclear deal with Iran does not guarantee European security interests.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that "the threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from the Islamic Republic of Iran." He accused the European parties — the UK, France and Germany, also known as the E3 — of violating their own obligations under the JCPOA, which President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in office.
The speculation about the snapback mechanism comes just weeks after Iran announced it was suspending its collaboration with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, following the 12-day war in June that saw Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
