US and allies give Iran deadline to reach nuclear deal

The US, France, UK, and Germany agree that Iran must reach a new nuclear deal by the end of August – or face snapback sanctions from the three European powers, restoring pre-2015 sanctions.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States and three key European allies have set a deadline for Iran to reach a new nuclear deal, or face the reimposition of sanctions lifted a decade ago, three sources told Axios.

According to the report published Tuesday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone Monday with his French, British, and German counterparts.

During the call, the four reportedly agreed to set a de facto deadline for Tehran to reach a new agreement regarding its nuclear program, or face the restoration of sweeping sanctions.

While the United States under President Donald Trump has restored much of the sanctions regime which Iran faced prior to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement, America’s European “E3″ allies have hesitated to reimpose the United Nations Security Council sanctions which were lifted ten years ago.

Now, however, Germany, France, and the UK have agreed to reactivate the sanctions regime, under the snapback mechanism built into the 2015 agreement.

The move would restore multilateral embargoes imposed by the UN Security Council prior to 2015.

On Tuesday, the European Union announced it will also begin the process of restoring sanctions on Iran, though the procedure could last until mid-October.

The EU will initiate the reinstating of sanctions on Iran if no progress towards a new nuclear deal has been reached by August 29th, the bloc said.

However, the full restoration of all six UN Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions will be delayed until October 15th, giving European diplomats time to pressure Iran as sanctions are incrementally reimposed.

“France and its partners are … justified in reapplying global embargos on arms, banks and nuclear equipment that were lifted 10 years ago,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said at a meeting with EU foreign ministers.

“Without a firm, tangible and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest.”

The snapback sanctions are slated under the JCPOA to take effect in October, but EU leaders and the E3 agreed to begin the process earlier, in order to preempt Russia’s rotational presidency of the UN Security Council in October.