Iran warned the UK, France and Germany that reimposing sanctions would lead Iran to halt cooperation with IAEA nuclear inspections. The IAEA regularly sends monitors to Iran but frequently reports limits to its access. Iran's rial weakened as investors anticipated the possibility of renewed sanctions. The "snapback" mechanism allows the European trio to reimpose sanctions immediately despite previously lifting them under the 2015 nuclear deal. The 2015 deal was undermined by the US unilateral withdrawal in 2018, while Europe maintained sanctions relief and the Biden administration did not rejoin the accord. US and Israeli strikes in June targeted some Iranian nuclear facilities, raising further questions about the deal and program.
"We have told them if this happens, the pathway we have opened for working with the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] will be completely affected and the process will likely be stopped," Kazem Gharibabadi, a deputy foreign minister, said in an interview with Iranian state television. "If they opt for snapback, it makes no sense for Iran to continue" working with the IAEA, he said.
The "snapback" mechanism is so called because the UK, France and Germany lifted the sanctions as part of the 2015 nuclear deal struck with Iran but with the ability to reimpose them immediately if Iran was deemed in breach of the accord. The deal's status has been problematic ever since Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from it during his first term in 2018 but the European trio that helped broker it had kept the sanctions relief in place
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