E3 member countries, composed of France, the United Kingdom and Germany, will repay the sanctions of the United Nations (UN) against Iran and its nuclear program. The nations notified the council of the agency about the reactivation of the mechanism on Thursday (28), suspended earlier in 2015 in the nuclear agreement signed with the government of Tehran.
The action of the measure, known as snapback, occurs amid efforts to contain the advance of the Iranian nuclear program, weakened after Israel and the United States bombard nuclear power plants last June. Iran condemned the measure and threatened that there may be serious consequences for the repayment of sanctions, expected to happen within 30 days.
Tehran’s government has increasingly violated the nuclear agreement since US President Donald Trump removed the country from the treaty in 2018 during his first term. The main fear of the West is that the Iranian regime is enriching uranium to build a nuclear bomb, something that was denied by the regime. Currently, Iran enriches about 60% of the radioactive material, a value close to the 90% needed to create the weapon.
On the other hand, the country states that nuclear development is focused exclusively on peaceful purposes of energy, which aims to build more plants to meet internal needs and release more oil abroad. According to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, no other country works with the enrichment of this certain type of uranium without maintaining a nuclear weapons program.
Another point of suspicion was the rejection of the Iranian government to receive inspectors from the agency to evaluate damage and possible leaks after bombing against the plants. Nevertheless, the country has made a concession and allowed some agents to show that Iran is willing to negotiate. Now, the international community is waiting to find out what will be the next steps of the Islamic Republic within 30 days for the reestablishment of sanctions.
