Iran and Russia: European countries lack authority to activate snapback mechanism

The two top diplomats referred to the trio’s increasingly incremental efforts to have the Security Council restore the bans on the eve of expiration of UNSC Resolution 2231. The resolution was issued after conclusion of a 2015 nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and world countries, including the three European parties, endorsing the deal and lifting the sanctions.

Araghchi and Lavrov reminded that the European states’ refusal to commit to their obligations under the JCPOA, and their alignment with the United States in the latter’s aggression against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities in June, had robbed them of any excuse to resort to the “snapback.”

Accusing the Islamic Republic of “diverting” its peaceful nuclear energy activities towards “military purposes,” the European countries have been trying to trigger the deal’s so-called “snapback” mechanism. The mechanism enables the sanctions’ return before the resolution’s expected expiration in October.