Araghchi says inspectors in Iran as UNSC set to reimpose sanctions
Araghchi says inspectors in Iran as UNSC set to reimpose sanctions
The UN was set to reimpose sweeping sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme after a last-minute effort by China and Russia to delay the measure failed on Friday.
Talks between the E3 - Britain, France and Germany - and Iran have been taking place for weeks in a bid to avert the return of sanctions that will hit Iran’s oil and banking sectors, as well as impose an arms embargo on the country.
Iran is already under debilitating US sanctions, which carry international weight because the US dollar is the world’s reserve currency and the go-to medium for international commerce.
The so-called "snapback" sanctions were lifted under the defunct 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018.
Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran in June. Trump joined in the war, bombing three Iranian nuclear facilities in strikes he said blew Iran’s nuclear programme "up to kingdom come".
The fate of Iran’s nuclear programme, however, is far from certain. According to a July report by NBC, the US severely damaged one of Iran’s nuclear sites, but two other facilities were only degraded to the point that the Islamic Republic could restart uranium enrichment at them within months.
The European powers wanted Iran to provide inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) full access to all its nuclear facilities and return to compliance with the defunct JCPOA, which regulated Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and maintain centrifuges.
China and Russia attempted to head off the sanctions with a resolution that would have given Iran and European states another half year for talks, or until 18 April 2026.
The resolution did not receive the nine votes on the 15-member Security Council it needed for passage. Nine countries voted no and two abstained.
Still, Iran appeared to be trying to head off sanctions until the last minute.
On Friday evening, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog are "now in Iran", contradicting a claim by France that they were not present.
IAEA "inspectors are right now in Iran doing their job", Araghchi said.
"I signed an agreement with the agency in Cairo and the director general of the agency is quite satisfied and happy."
Araghchi called the impending reimposition of nuclear sanctions "legally void", and asked the UN secretary general to prevent attempts to enact them.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the UN to reimpose sanctions.
US and Iran 'talking'
Trump envoy Steve Witkofff said on the sidelines of the UN that the Trump administration was "talking to them [Iran]".
"Why wouldn't we? We talk to everybody. As well we should. That's the job. Our job is to solve things," he said.
When asked about the snapback sanctions, Witkoff said, "we have no desire to hurt them. We have a desire, however, to either realise a permanent solution and negotiate around snapbacks," adding, "If we can't, then snapbacks will be what they are. They're the right medicine."
Addressing the UN General Assembly this week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran will never seek to build a nuclear bomb. Pezeshkian also showed pictures of people killed in the 12-day Israeli war on Iran, which Tehran says killed more than 1,000 people.
Some analysts noted that the E3’s decision to reimpose snapback sanctions was more about Europe preserving good ties with the US than taking on Iran, particularly as Trump shifts his tone of support to Ukraine amid its war with Russia.
"The E3 is not taking its cues from the EU, but from the White House. And its calculations have more to do with Ukraine and the transatlantic relationship than the nuclear file," Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, wrote on X.
