U.N. sanctions on Iran have been reimposed thanks to the foolish European governments that used the “snapback” mechanism in the original nuclear deal:
U.N. sanctions imposed by the Security Council in resolutions adopted between 2006 and 2010 were reinstated at 8 p.m. EDT on Saturday (0000 GMT on Sunday). Attempts to delay the return of all sanctions on Iran failed on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. this week.
The return of U.N. sanctions will achieve nothing except to inflict more misery on the people of Iran. The U.K., France, and Germany were wrong in pushing for the reimposition of sanctions. If the goal was to revive nuclear negotiations, threatening Iran with more punishment shortly after Israel and the U.S. attacked their country was the worst way to go about it. The three European governments acted as accomplices to the Trump and Netanyahu’s aggression after the fact, and they shredded what little credibility with Iran they had left. The U.S. and Israel did most of the work to kill diplomacy with Iran, but Britain, France, and Germany went out of their way to finish the job.
The new agreement that Iran reached with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier this month will go nowhere as a result. The agreement with the IAEA would have allowed inspections to resume, but it was contingent on no further hostile acts against Iran. The use of the snapback mechanism to bring back U.N. sanctions was one of the hostile acts that the Iranian government explicitly identified as a reason for the termination of the agreement:
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday that Tehran would scrap an agreement to let the U.N. watchdog inspect its nuclear sites if Western powers reinstated U.N. sanctions.
In addition to the collapse of inspections, there is a real possibility that Iran finally pulls the trigger on withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Iranian government has warned many times that it might do this if the snapback mechanism were used. At this point, Iran has few incentives to remain in the treaty when it is not allowed to develop its peaceful nuclear program without facing economic warfare and military attacks.
If Iran quits the NPT, Western governments will have scored a monumental own goal with their mindless reliance on sanctions to try to force Iran to capitulate. Withdrawal from the treaty doesn’t necessarily mean that the Iranian government will choose to build nuclear weapons, but it would still be a significant blow to the cause of nonproliferation. The U.S. and Israel would almost certainly take withdrawal from the NPT as an excuse to launch more attacks. The stupidity of Starmer, Macron, and Merz makes another war in the region more likely.
When U.N. sanctions were first imposed on Iran over the nuclear issue, there was a real international consensus among all major powers. That consensus no longer exists. The return of U.N. sanctions on Iran will likely lead to a lot of sanctions busting by governments that don’t agree with how the snapback mechanism was abused. Russia is unlikely to respect the renewed arms embargo, and China is unlikely to give up its appetite for Iranian oil. Other states, including some U.S. partners, will have their own reasons for helping Iran to evade the sanctions.
Read the rest of the article at Eunomia
