Europeans Reject US Request to Reinstate UN Sanctions on Iran

The United Kingdom, France, and Germany announced they will not support the U.S. request to reinstate the United Nations sanctions against Iran as it would be incompatible with their current efforts to keep up with the nuclear deal.

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On Thursday, the U.S. Secretary of State MIke Pompeo sent a formal request to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to reinstate its sanctions arguing that the Persian nation had violated the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement.

In response, the U.K., France, and Germany indicated that the U.S. has no right to demand a reversal of the UN sanctions as it left the JCPOA on May 8, 2018.

In order to preserve the agreement, however, they also stated that Iran should reverse all measures inconsistent with the JCPOA commitments.

Russia also rejected the U.S proposal and requested a UNSC meeting in which its 15 members could discuss the issue.

The council has a 30-day window to take action after the notice of the non-compliance was served; otherwise, all UN sanctions under the 2015 deal will snap back into place.

UN International Crisis Group Director Richard Cowan said that some information was leaked earlier this year revealing that the U.S. had threatened the United Kingdom and other European countries with sanctions if they did not take action against Iran.