News - Middle East: Iran has strongly condemned an attempt by France, Germany, and the UK (the E3) to trigger the snapback mechanism under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, while China and Russia moved to counter it with a joint resolution. 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday categorically rejected the E3’s move as “baseless, invalid, and legally ineffective,” calling it an “unjustified action” that contravenes the Dispute Resolution Mechanism (DRM) enshrined in the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“This action is a legally flawed effort to revive cancelled resolutions and is in clear contradiction to Resolution 2231,” the ministry said.

It stressed that the E3 “have no legal or moral authority” to invoke snapback, “particularly given their ongoing violations of JCPOA commitments.”

The statement emphasized that the DRM was designed as a “multi-stage and consultative process” precisely to prevent misuse by parties like the E3, which Tehran says have themselves failed to fulfill their obligations.

“As confirmed by some Council members, especially China and Russia, the three European countries have not completed the procedural steps required under the JCPOA and Resolution 2231,” Iran’s ministry added.

The statement denounced the E3’s move as “a legally defective attempt to misuse Resolution 2231 in pursuit of a biased political agenda against Iran,” aligned with Washington’s “unilateral and coercive” measures after the US withdrawal from the deal in 2018.

“These countries cannot claim to act in good faith while they have long failed to meet their obligations and have aligned with the US in violating the deal,” the ministry said, rejecting any justification for their snapback move based on Iran’s own remedial actions, which it described as “gradual, proportionate, and entirely consistent with its legal rights under the JCPOA.”

Iran also condemned the snapback attempt amid recent attacks on its nuclear facilities, which it said were conducted by a former JCPOA participant, apparently referring to the US.

Tehran said the E3 are “rewarding the violator and punishing the victim,” citing that “it was the United States, not Iran, that unilaterally exited the JCPOA and reimposed sanctions.”

It added that the E3 had failed to fulfill their economic commitments under the deal, including on the JCPOA’s “Transition Day” of October 18, 2023, and imposed new “illegal sanctions” on Iran’s civilian aviation and maritime sectors.

Warning of wider repercussions, Iran said the European initiative “will seriously undermine the ongoing cooperation” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), describing the snapback attempt as “provocative and unnecessary,” and pledged to deliver an “appropriate response.”

Source: Press TV