Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has rejected efforts by Britain, France, and Germany—known as the E3—to reinstate UN sanctions lifted under Resolution 2231 (2015), calling the move “invalid and ineffective.”
In a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who coordinates the nuclear deal’s Joint Commission, Araghchi stressed that Resolution 2231 “must expire according to its scheduled timeline on October 18, 2025.”
“Attempts by the E3 to revive UN Security Council resolutions that were terminated under Resolution 2231 are invalid and ineffective,” Araghchi wrote, a day after the E3 triggered the snapback mechanism, starting a 30-day window to potentially restore UN sanctions on Tehran.
He accused the European powers of lacking “legal jurisdiction to initiate the automatic restoration” of sanctions and said their actions ignored “essential facts and procedural history” of the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Araghchi reiterated that Iran was the first party to activate the deal’s dispute resolution mechanism after the U.S. withdrew in 2018, citing letters and Joint Commission meetings earlier that year.
He dismissed the E3’s 2020 attempt to trigger the mechanism as “illegitimate,” noting it was rejected by Iran, Russia, and China.
Highlighting the Europeans’ failure to fulfil “eleven additional commitments” made to preserve the nuclear deal, Araghchi criticised the EU’s financial mechanism INSTEX as “symbolic and ineffective.”
He blamed the collapse of recent Vienna talks on “U.S. obstinacy, domestic political constraints, and the E3’s insistence on linking talks to unrelated issues.”
Araghchi condemned the EU’s silence over recent U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, calling them “clear violations of the UN Charter and international law,” and criticised European support for these actions.
Reaffirming Iran’s “readiness to resume fair and balanced diplomatic negotiations,” he urged the EU to avoid “selective interpretations” and work towards “genuine diplomacy and the preservation of multilateralism.”
The letter was also sent to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and all Security Council members.
He blamed the collapse of recent Vienna talks on “US obstinacy, domestic political constraints, and the E3’s insistence on linking talks to unrelated issues.”
Araghchi condemned the EU’s silence over recent US and Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, calling them “clear violations of the UN Charter and international law,” and criticized European support for these actions.
Reaffirming Iran’s “readiness to resume fair and balanced diplomatic negotiations,” he urged the EU to avoid “selective interpretations” and work towards “genuine diplomacy and the preservation of multilateralism.”
The letter was also sent to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and all Security Council members.
