The 30-day countdown for the UK, France and Germany to "quickly resume sanctions" against Iran has begun

The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement on Thursday (August 28) regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, saying that the three countries informed the UN Security Council on the same day to activate the "rapid resumption of sanctions" mechanism. If the Security Council fails to pass a resolution on extending the exemption period for sanctions against Iran within 30 days, the relevant sanctions will be resumed.

Xinhua News Agency reported that the joint statement released on the website of the British Foreign Office said that Iran has failed to fulfill the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear issue since 2019. The statement warns that under the "rapid Resumption of sanctions" mechanism, starting from today, if the Security Council fails to pass a resolution on extending the exemption period for sanctions against Iran within 30 days, the six resolutions previously passed by the Security Council against Iran, including sanctions measures, will be restored. Meanwhile, the UK, France and Germany will continue to engage with Iran within this 30-day period.

Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCSAA) signed in 2015, Iran committed to restricting its nuclear program and the international community lifted sanctions against it. The UN Security Council subsequently adopted Resolution 2231 to ratify the agreement. This resolution includes a "rapid reinstatement of sanctions" mechanism, allowing the signatory countries of the agreement to take measures to deal with Iran's violations. The mechanism is valid until October 18 this year.

On July 17, the foreign ministers of Iran and the United Kingdom, France and Germany, as well as the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, held a joint video conference. The UK, France and Germany expressed their determination to activate the "rapid resumption of sanctions" mechanism to Iran and pressured Iran to resume nuclear talks with the United States as soon as possible. The Iranian side has repeatedly expressed opposition to the activation mechanism.

In May 2018, then US President Trump announced that the United States would unilaterally withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and resume and impose a series of new sanctions on Iran. Since May 2019, Iran has gradually suspended the implementation of some provisions of the Iran nuclear deal, but has promised that the measures taken are "reversible".