European powers tell UN they are ready to reimpose Iran sanctions by end of August

By AFP 13 August 2025, 11:02 am

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This handout photograph taken and released by the German Federal Foreign Office on June 20, 2025 shows Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy (R) and Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (2nd R) greeting Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L) prior to a meeting on Tehran's nuclear program, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva (Handout / German Federal Foreign Office / AFP)

Britain, France and Germany have told the United Nations they are ready to reimpose United Nations-mandated sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program if no diplomatic solution is found by the end of August, according to a joint letter obtained by AFP.

The letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council says the three European powers are “committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon” unless Tehran meets the deadline.

The foreign ministers from the so-called E3 group threaten to use a “snapback mechanism” that was part of the 2015 agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Under the deal, which terminates in October, any party to the accord can restore the sanctions. The United States withdrew from the accord in 2018 at the urging of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. China and Russia were also signatories to the deal.

All three European countries have stepped up warnings to Iran about its suspension of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“We have made clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism,” foreign ministers Jean-Noel Barrot of France, David Lammy of Britain and Johann Wadephul of Germany say in the letter.

The letter sets out limits that the ministers say Iran has breached, including building up a uranium stock more than 40 times the permitted level under the 2015 deal.

“The E3 remain fully committed to a diplomatic resolution to the crisis caused by Iran’s nuclear programme and will continue to engage with a view to reaching a negotiated solution,” the ministers write in the letter, sent Tuesday and first reported today by the Financial Times.”We are equally ready, and have unambiguous legal grounds, to notify the significant non-performance of JCPOA commitments by Iran… thereby triggering the snapback mechanism, should no satisfactory solution be reached by the end of August 2025.”