European nations start process to impose 'snapback' sanctions on Iran over nuclear programme

France, Germany and the United Kingdom started the process on Thursday to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, after a 12-day conflict with Israel in June saw its atomic sites repeatedly bombed.

The mechanism, termed snapback by the diplomats who negotiated it into the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) with world powers, was designed to be veto-proof at the UN and is likely to go into effect.

It would again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalise any development of its ballistic missile program, among other measures, further squeezing the country's reeling economy.

The European move starts a 30-day clock for the sanctions to return, a period that could see intensified diplomacy from Iran, whose refusal to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) inspectors started the crisis.

The British, French and German foreign ministers suggested they viewed snapback as a way to spur negotiations with Tehran.

"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 the social media platform X.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi decried the move as "unjustified, illegal, and lacking any legal basis" in a call with his European counterparts.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran will respond appropriately to this unlawful and unwarranted measure," he said, without elaborating.

Europeans warned Iran snapback was imminent

The European nations triggered the sanctions process through a letter to the UN Security Council.

France and the UK also requested that the 15-member council hold closed consultations on Friday to discuss Iran’s noncompliance, according to a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss still-private information.

There's a slim chance diplomacy will create an opening to push back the 18 October deadline, the date when the snapback mechanism expires, after which any sanctions effort will likely face a veto in the Security Council.

Iran likely would need to resume direct negotiations with the US and provide the IAEA full access to its nuclear sites to get such a delay.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the Europeans' decision and said America "remains available for direct engagement with Iran."

"Snapback does not contradict our earnest readiness for diplomacy, it only enhances it," Rubio said in a statement.

Iran appears resigned

Iran initially downplayed the threat of renewed sanctions and engaged in little visible diplomacy for weeks after Europe’s warning, but has engaged in a brief diplomatic push in recent days, highlighting the chaos gripping its theocracy.

In Tehran on Thursday, Iran's rial currency all but collapsed, trading at over 1 million to $1. At the time of the 2015 accord, it traded at 32,000 to $1, showing the currency's collapse in the time since.

Before the June conflict with Israel in June, Iran was enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

It also built a stockpile containing enough highly enriched uranium to build multiple atomic bombs, should it choose to do so.

Iran long has insisted its program is peaceful, though Western nations and the IAEA assess Tehran had an active nuclear weapons program up until 2003.