The UK, France, and Germany, signatories of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, accuse Iran of violating its commitments under the agreement. Diplomatic sources expect that the draft resolution will not receive the required nine votes to maintain the current situation, where sanctions are lifted, which means the re-imposition of sanctions.
French President Emmanuel Macron, in an excerpt from an interview broadcast by Israeli television on Thursday, said he expects the reinstatement of international sanctions on Iran by the end of the month, adding, “The latest from the Iranians does not seem serious.”
In a message to the United Nations in mid-August, the “European trio” accused Tehran of breaching several commitments within the nuclear deal, including storing more than 40 times the permitted amount of uranium. Despite a series of diplomatic talks between European powers and Iran, the three Western capitals insisted that no tangible progress had been made.
Voting could begin as early as next week, although the high-level annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, which Iranian President Masoud Bazeskiyan will attend, may provide an opportunity for last-minute negotiations.
The 2015 nuclear agreement has been faltering since the withdrawal during the first term of U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018, and the re-imposition of sanctions on Tehran. Western powers and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies.
Tensions have escalated since the 12-day war between Iran and Israel last June, which disrupted nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington and led Iran to suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Trump had attempted during his previous term to activate the so-called “snapback mechanism” of sanctions in 2020, but failed due to his country’s unilateral withdrawal from the agreement two years prior.
Despite repeated attempts by European powers to revive the 2015 agreement through negotiations, asserting that they have a “clear legal basis” to activate the mechanism, Iran disagrees with this view and has threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the “snapback mechanism” is activated.
