Europe threatens Iran with sanctions if nuclear talks don’t restart

France, Germany, and the UK told Iran on Thursday they’ll bring back United Nations sanctions unless Tehran gets serious and restarts nuclear talks immediately.

They want actual results on the table before August is over. No more delays. The pressure’s real this time. The three countries, called the E3, spoke with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Abbas Araghchi, and they weren’t asking nicely.

It was their first direct contact since Israel and the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites last month. That changed everything. Now the Europeans are watching Iran’s next move like hawks.

A French diplomatic source said the E3 pushed hard for “a verifiable and lasting deal” and warned that the snapback mechanism would be triggered if Iran kept stalling.

Araghchi fires back, blames U.S. for walking away

Araghchi jumped on X and made it clear he wasn’t impressed. He said he told the Europeans: “It was US that left the negotiation table in June this year and chose a military option instead, not Iran.” He said if the E3 or EU wanted to be taken seriously, they should stop throwing around threats. He said:

“They should act responsibly, and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the ‘snap-back’ for which they lack absolutely [any] moral and legal ground.”

Araghchi made one thing clear: Iran is open to talking, but only “when the other party is ready for a fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial nuclear deal.” Translation: no talks unless the West stops playing tough guy. Iran isn’t going to roll over.

The 2015 nuclear deal is still technically in place, at least for now. The U.S. walked away from it in 2018, but France, the UK, Germany, China, and Russia are still on board.

Under the agreement, if Iran breaks the rules, any one of those remaining members can launch the snapback and bring back UN sanctions, and it would take just 30 days to kick in. After that, Iran would be back under international pressure with no way out unless it complies.

A French source added, “The ministers also reiterated their determination to use the so-called ‘snapback’ mechanism in the absence of concrete progress toward such an agreement by the end of the summer.” No specifics were given, but the message was loud: Europe’s done waiting.

Right now, IAEA inspectors are no longer inside Iran. That’s a big problem. No one has eyes on the nuclear facilities, and that makes any real deal basically impossible. Without verification, there’s nothing to talk about.

Iran says it’s open to diplomacy, but there’s nothing on the calendar. A sixth round of talks with the U.S. isn’t even close to happening. Diplomats who allegedly spoke anonymously said the August deadline is a long shot.

Still, some hope remains. Two European diplomats said they’re trying to sync with Washington in the coming days. The goal? Get talks going again. But it’s not clear if that’ll happen before August runs out. And if it doesn’t, the snapback will probably go live.

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