E3 MOVE TO REIMPOSE UN SANCTIONS ON IRAN – France, UK & Germany impose measures on Iran over nuclear breach
A move by the E3 group of France, Britain and Germany to trigger a 30-day process to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran should not be acted on by the Security Council because it has no legal bearing, according to Russia’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy.
Russia and China finalised their draft United Nations Security Council resolution on Thursday, said diplomats, that would extend the 2015 Iran nuclear deal for six months and urge all parties to immediately resume negotiations.
The move comes after France, Germany and Britain triggered a 30-day process to re-impose U.N. sanctions on Iran. It was not immediately clear if Russia and China had requested a Security Council vote.
A senior Iranian official quickly accused the three European powers of harming diplomacy and vowed that Tehran would not bow to pressure over the move by the E3 to launch the so-called “snapback mechanism.”
The three powers feared they would otherwise lose the prerogative in mid-October to restore sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under a 2015 nuclear accord with world powers.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the decision did not signal the end of diplomacy. His German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, urged Iran to now fully cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and commit to direct talks with the United States over the next month.
