PARIS (Reuters) – European powers will likely reimpose international sanctions on Iran by the end of the month after their latest round of talks with Tehran aimed at preventing them were deemed not serious, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.
Britain, France and Germany, the so-called E3, launched a 30-day process at the end of August to reimpose U.N. sanctions. They set conditions for Tehran to meet during September to convince them to delay the “snapback mechanism”.
The offer by the E3 to put off the snapback for up to six months to enable serious negotiations is conditional on Iran restoring access for U.N. nuclear inspectors – who would also seek to account for Iran’s large stock of enriched uranium – and engaging in talks with the U.S.
When asked in an interview on Israel’s Channel 12 whether the snapback was a done deal, Macron said:
“Yes. I think so because the latest news from the Iranians is not serious.”
E3 foreign ministers, the European Union foreign policy chief and their Iranian counterpart held a phone call on Wednesday, in which diplomats on both sides said there had been no substantial progress though the door was still open to try and reach a deal before the deadline expired.
The 15-member U.N. Security Council will vote on Friday on a resolution that would permanently lift U.N. sanctions on Iran – a move it is required to take after the E3 launched the process.
The resolution is likely to fail to get the minimum nine votes needed to pass, say diplomats, and if it did it would be vetoed by the United States, Britain or France.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
