Europeans have already made up their minds on snapback
On August 28, the three European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, France, Germany and the UK (E3), launched the 30-day process of reinstating international sanctions on Iran through a mechanism known as “snapback.” One of their demands was the resumption of Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which Tehran had suspended in June after a joint Israeli–US strike on its nuclear facilities.
Despite a recent understanding reached between Iran and the IAEA over a new cooperation framework in the wake of those attacks, the EU and E3 top diplomats, in a September 17 phone call with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, dismissed Tehran’s steps as “insufficient” and once again threatened to trigger the snapback mechanism.
Against this backdrop, Iran Daily spoke with Abbas Aslani, a political affairs analyst.
IRAN DAILY: In light of the September 17 phone call between Iran’s foreign minister and European officials, during which these countries reiterated their position on Iran’s nuclear activity, how do you assess the success of Tehran’s diplomatic efforts to ease European pressure following the recent agreement with the IAEA?
ASLANI: The European and Western parties are talking as if nothing has happened, ignoring the fact that Iran has faced direct military aggression. For security and defense reasons, cooperation with the IAEA had to be re-established within a new framework, because the recent developments have created an entirely new situation.
It appears that the Europeans are using the snapback of UN sanctions as leverage to pressure Tehran and, at the same time, to carve out a role for themselves. Having previously been sidelined—particularly by the United States—and never really central players in the nuclear talks, they now seem eager to and threaten action to project themselves as more influential.
Despite the recent agreement with the IAEA—an agreement that the agency’s director general himself assessed positively—Europe has reverted to its previous positions. They seem unwilling to acknowledge what they themselves had requested: renewed cooperation with the agency. This diminishes the prospects for a real breakthrough. Ultimately, it will depend on whether the Europeans, under US pressure, stick to this current course or decide to recalibrate. Should they persist, they will inevitably face reactions.
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