Iran Recalls Envoys to UK, France, Germany as UN Sanctions Return

Iran has recalled its envoys to the United Kingdom, France, and Germany for consultations, according to state media, after the three European countries triggered a mechanism reinstating United Nations sanctions on the Islamic Republic for the first time in a decade, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.

“Following the irresponsible action of the three European countries to reinstate repealed UN Security Council resolutions, Iran’s ambassadors to Germany, France and the United Kingdom have been summoned to Tehran for consultations,” state news agency Tasnim and others reported on Saturday.

The move came a day after Russia and China failed to delay the revival of the international sanctions on Iran at the 15-member UN Security Council, as only four countries supported their draft resolution, opening the door for sanctions to be reimposed.

The E3 countries set the clock ticking a month ago for the “snapback” of the UN sanctions, accusing Iran of failing to come clean on its nuclear programme - including through countermeasures it took in response to bombing by Israel and the United States during a 12-day June conflict that Iranian authorities say killed more than 1,000 people.

The sanctions, set to go into effect at 00:00 GMT on Sunday, will set up a global ban on cooperation with Iran on nuclear, military, banking and shipping industries. Iran’s national currency, the rial, fell to new all-time lows on Saturday, trading for more than 1.1 million per US dollar in Tehran’s open market.

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday said some inspections had resumed at Iranian sites this week, but did not say whether this included sites bombed by the US and Israel, where nuclear material could be buried. In Moscow for the World Atomic Week forum, Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami once again blasted the UN nuclear watchdog for refusing to condemn the air strikes on the Iranian nuclear sites.

Western powers rejected at least two Iranian proposals to defer snapback over the past days, saying they did not see enough progress to agree to a delay after a week of top-level diplomacy at the UN General Assembly.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said there was no reason to reach a deal when, in his view, Israel and the US were seeking to use the pressure to topple the theocratic establishment.

“If the goal had been to resolve concerns on the nuclear programme, we could easily do that,” Pezeshkian told reporters, as he insisted again that Iran will never pursue nuclear weapons.

He also accused the US of pressing the Europeans not to reach a compromise.