The foreign ministers of France, Germany, the U.K. and the EU foreign policy chief told Secretary of State Marco Rubio they will trigger the "snapback" sanctions mechanism against Iran on Thursday, three sources with direct knowledge told Axios.
The "snapback" mechanism automatically reimposes all UN Security Council sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Iranian officials have threatened in the past that triggering the "snapback" mechanism would lead it to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
France, Germany and the U.K. gave Iran until the end of August to take steps regarding their nuclear program to avoid from the triggering of the UN sanctions.
The European powers wanted Iran to resume negotiations with the U.S. over a nuclear deal, allow full access to UN inspectors and give access to its 60% highly enriched uranium stockpile.
A meeting in Geneva on Tuesday between senior diplomats from Iran and the European powers ended with no results with the Iranians not proposing anything.
The process of activating "snapback" takes 30 days, and the Europeans want to conclude the process before Russia assumes the UN Security Council presidency in October.
"Triggering the snapback process would not mean the end of diplomacy. The E3 remain open to engaging with Iran in the weeks until the UN sanctions will come into effect", a European diplomat said.
Posted by John3262005