Key Points and Summary – Three major European powers—the U.K., France, and Germany—have officially moved to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran by invoking the “snapback” provision of the 2015 nuclear deal.
-The move puts a 30-day clock on diplomacy to find a peaceful resolution before the sanctions, which target everything from Iranian assets to its ballistic missile program, are reimposed.
-Iran has condemned the action as “illegal and unjustified.”
-This diplomatic pressure is mounting on other fronts as well, with Australia expelling Iran’s ambassador after linking Tehran to terrorist attacks on its soil.
The New Iran Crisis?
After weeks of threats, the U.K., France, and Germany have sent a letter to the UN Security Council, announcing plans to invoke the “snapback” provisions to reinstate sanctions on Iran, Axios reported Thursday.
Those United Nations sanctions had been suspended for the last ten years, since the JCPOA nuclear deal in 2015, but will now be reinstated.
There is, however, a 30-day period in place before the sanctions officially take effect, during which further negotiations might still take place.
While the U.S. was not involved with this process, having pulled out of the Iran deal in 2018, Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented on the development.
The “remains available for direct engagement with Iran — in furtherance of a peaceful, enduring resolution to the Iran nuclear issue,” the Secretary of State said Thursday.
Per the AP, the reimposition of sanctions “would again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize any development of its ballistic missile program, among other measures, further squeezing the country’s reeling economy.”
“This measure does not signal the end of diplomacy: we are determined to make the most of the 30-day period that is now opening to engage in dialogue with Iran,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on X. “We remain committed to diplomacy to ensure that Iran never acquires nuclear weapons.”
Iran Responds
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, per the AP, told his European counterparts that the snapback measure is “unjustified, illegal and lacking any legal basis.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will respond appropriately to this unlawful and unwarranted measure,” Araghchi added.
The parties had been in talks in recent months, but do not appear, as of yet, to have avoided a re-imposition of sanctions.
“Iranian leaders perceive a sanctions ‘snapback’ as a Western effort to weaken Iran’s economy indefinitely and perhaps stimulate sufficient popular unrest to unseat Iran’s regime,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank wrote in an analysis this week.
“Tehran is employing a combination of threats and diplomacy to avoid triggering the sanctions snapback. Tehran publicly rejects an extension of Resolution 2232, calling it an illegitimate alteration of the 2015 JCPOA agreement. Iranian leaders claim the E3 has upheld U.S. secondary sanctions, and therefore ‘in effect abandoned any claims to JCPOA participant status.’”
The Institute for the Study of War also looked at what might happen next.
“It is unclear if the E3 will initiate the dispute resolution process outlined in the JCPOA or directly refer Iran’s non-compliance to the UNSC,” ISW stated in its most recent Iran Report. “The dispute resolution process can take up to 35 days and involves a series of steps that aim to resolve non-compliance issues.[7] The E3 can choose to engage in the dispute resolution process and then refer the issue to the UNSC if it believes that Iran continues to show ‘significant non-performance.’”
Iran vs. Australia
Also this week, Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador.
As noted by The Atlantic, Australia “is not known for picking fights,” and hadn’t kicked out an ambassador since World War II.
“Shutting down the Iranian embassy, the Australian government declared Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi persona non grata and ordered him and three other Iranian officials to leave within three days. Additionally, it designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization,” the magazine analysis said.
Why did Australia do this? According to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Australia has “credible intelligence… linking Iran to several attacks on Australian Jews last year, including an arson attack on a kosher restaurant in Sydney.
“They’re just using cut-outs, including people who are criminals and members of organised crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their bidding,” Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chief Mike Burgess said, per The BBC.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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Krystal cane
August 30, 2025 at 5:36 pm
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