[Report] According to Reuters, on the 17th local time, the UK, France, and Germany urged Iran to resume nuclear negotiations immediately and warned that if no concrete progress is made by the end of this summer, sanctions against Iran will be reinstated.
The report states that this marks the first time since mid-June when Israeli and American airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the foreign ministers of Europe, along with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, have spoken with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
A French diplomatic source after the call stated that the foreign ministers called on Iran to expedite its diplomatic efforts to reach a “verifiable and lasting” nuclear agreement. The ministers also reiterated their determination to activate the “rapid recovery mechanism” if no concrete progress is made on the agreement before the end of the summer. However, the source did not specify what specific progress the three countries expected.
The report mentions that a resolution on the Iran nuclear deal under the United Nations Security Council is set to expire on October 18th. According to the terms of the resolution, sanctions could be reinstated ahead of schedule, taking about 30 days.
Earlier, the UK, France, and Germany had threatened to initiate a “rapid recovery sanctions” mechanism against Iran. The so-called “rapid recovery sanctions” mechanism refers to the possibility of quickly reinstating sanctions previously imposed by the United Nations on Iran if it is deemed to have violated the terms of the agreement. In response, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bagheri said on the 14th local time that the threat of sanctions by the European countries was a serious violation of the commitments made in the Iran nuclear deal, and Iran would respond accordingly. He also mentioned that Israel is the root cause of regional instability. Bagheri described the threat of using the “rapid recovery sanctions” mechanism as purely political, aligning with the US stance against Iran, and Iran would certainly respond.