France won’t hesitate to restore UN sanctions on Iran if no deal, says foreign minister
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France, Britain and Germany are parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that expires in October.
PHOTO: ARASH KHAMOOSHI/NYTIMES
PARIS – France will not think twice about reimposing UN sanctions on Iran if negotiations to reach a deal over its nuclear programme do not succeed, its Foreign Minister told the UN Security Council late on April 28.
France, Britain and Germany – the E3 – are parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that expires in October and have the power to initiate its mechanism for reimposing sanctions, called snapback, at the Security Council.
“It goes without saying that when the Iranian nuclear deal expires in a few weeks, if European security interests are not guaranteed, we will not hesitate for a single second to reapply all the sanctions that were lifted 10 years ago,” said France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
Iran and the US, which quit the 2015 deal and reimposed its own sanctions, have been holding talks on the decades-old stand-off.
US President Donald Trump has said he is confident of clinching a new pact that would block Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb, although Iran says its programme is purely civilian.
According to diplomats, the E3 countries are now looking to trigger snapback by August, rather than June, if no substantial deal can be found by then. The opportunity expires on Oct 18.
“These sanctions would then permanently close off Iranian access to technology, investment and the European market, with devastating effects on the country’s economy. This is not what we want, and that is why I solemnly call on Iran to take the necessary decisions today to avoid the worst,” Mr Barrot said.
Iran has proposed meeting the E3 possibly in Rome on May 2, if talks resume with the US, four diplomats said on April 28, cautioning that the E3 have yet to respond. REUTERS
