News - Middle East: Tehran has once again warned that the European parties to the JCPOA lack legal authority to invoke the deal’s snapback mechanism to restore UN sanctions on Iran.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, expressed interest in a negotiated settlement over the fate of the 2015 agreement, which unraveled when the United States exited from it in 2018.

Gharibabadi told reporters on the sidelines of his visit to the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday that “any attempt to invoke this mechanism would be completely illegal.”

The three European signatories, along with China and Russia, are the only remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal after the US withdrawal. 

“From our point of view,” the Iranian diplomat stated, “the snapback process has no real legal standing.”

“The JCPOA has not been implemented for seven years, and European countries ceased fulfilling their commitments after the United States withdrew from the agreement,” he explained. 

“Now what can they claim?” he asked. “Are they going to say what Iran failed to implement? Did they themselves implement the JCPOA so that they can now demand compliance from the Islamic Republic of Iran?”

Gharibabadi said Tehran has already informed the European parties of the repercussions of such a move and will continue discussions on July 25 at a meeting in Istanbul.

“Our effort will be to see what common solutions we can reach to manage the situation.”

On his discussions with UN diplomats, Gharibabadi said he has held talks on the E3’s stance with various delegations, including the “Friends of the UN Charter” group of more than 20 countries.

The deputy foreign minister said he will continue to underscore the “desperate efforts” by the three European states to invoke the snapback mechanism and update UN member states on Iran’s diplomatic efforts and on which parties have betrayed diplomacy.

Another focus of his discussions is the US-Israeli aggression against Iran. Gharibabadi said it is important for countries to “hear the realities firsthand.”

“The Zionist regime has engaged in deceptive tactics over the past few Security Council sessions—for example, claiming the right to self-defense, alleging that Iran poses a threat and should have been attacked preemptively, or insisting they adhered to international law and did not target civilians,” he said.

“It is necessary to address these deceptions through close contact with other countries, issue the required warnings, and provide accurate and detailed information to international organizations and states,” he noted.

Source: Press TV