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Countries Threaten New Iran Sanctions 07/16 06:29
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Kingdom, France and Germany have agreed to
restore tough U.N. sanctions on Iran by the end of August if there has been no
concrete progress on a nuclear deal, two European diplomats said Tuesday.
The three countries' ambassadors to the United Nations met Tuesday at
Germany's U.N. Mission to discuss a possible Iranian deal and reimposing the
sanctions. The matter also came up in a phone call Monday between U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of the three
countries, according to two U.S. officials.
The State Department said after the call that the four had spoken about
"ensuring Iran does not develop or obtain a nuclear weapon."
The officials and diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss
private conversations.
The U.K., France and Germany are part of an agreement reached with Iran in
2015 to rein in its nuclear program, from which President Donald Trump withdrew
the U.S. during his first term, insisting it wasn't tough enough.
Under the accord that lifted economic penalties on Iran in exchange for
restrictions and monitoring of its nuclear program, a so-called "snapback"
provision allows one of the Western parties to reimpose U.N. sanctions if
Tehran does not comply with its requirements.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday that the three
European countries would be justified in reapplying sanctions.
"With regard to Iran, the minister reiterated the priority of resuming
negotiations to establish a long-term framework for Iran's nuclear program,''
the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement after a meeting of EU foreign
ministers in Brussels. ''Without a verifiable commitment from Iran by the end
of August at the latest, France, Germany and the U.K. will be justified in
reapplying the UN sanctions (snapbacks) that were lifted 10 years ago.''
The diplomats did not provide details of the deal being sought. Iranian
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in recent days that Tehran would accept a
resumption of nuclear talks with the U.S. if there were assurances of no more
attacks, following Israeli and U.S. strikes on its nuclear facilities.
He said there should be "a firm guarantee that such actions will not be
repeated, stressing that "the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has made it
more difficult and complicated to achieve a solution."
The United States and Iran held several rounds of negotiations over the
Iranian nuclear program before the Israeli strikes began in June. Trump and his
Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said last week that talks would happen soon,
but nothing has yet been scheduled.
Araghchi, whose country insists its nuclear program is for peaceful
purposes, said in a July 2 CBS interview that "the doors of diplomacy will
never slam shut."
Iran's U.N. Mission had no comment Tuesday on the threat of renewed
sanctions if there is no deal.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said last week that the U.S. airstrikes
so badly damaged his country's nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities
still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction. Iran has
suspended cooperation with the IAEA.
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