Macron: UN sanctions against Iran will be re-imposed

(Patria) - European powers will likely re-impose international sanctions on Iran by the end of the month after their latest round of talks with Tehran, aimed at preventing them, was deemed unserious, French President Emmanuel Macron stated, Reuters reported.

The United Kingdom, France, and Germany, the so-called E3, launched a thirty-day process of re-imposing United Nations sanctions at the end of August. They set conditions for Iran to be met during September to convince them to postpone the “re-imposition mechanism”.

The E3's offer to postpone the re-imposition of sanctions for up to six months to allow for serious negotiations was conditioned on Iran restoring access for UN nuclear inspectors, who would also seek to explain Iran's large stockpiles of enriched uranium, and on Tehran starting talks with the United States.

When asked in an interview on Israel's Channel 12 if the re-imposition of sanctions was a done deal, Macron said:

“Yes. I think so, because the latest news from the Iranians is not serious.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated later on Thursday that he had presented his E3/EU counterparts with a “reasonable and practical plan to avoid an unnecessary and avoidable crisis in the coming days”.

In a post on social media X, Araqchi said the proposal “addresses the real
concerns” and described it as mutually beneficial, but did not provide further details on what it entailed.

The foreign ministers of the E3, the EU foreign policy chief, and their Iranian counterpart held a phone call on Wednesday, in which diplomats on both sides said no significant progress was made, although the door remained open to attempt to reach a deal before the deadline.

The fifteen-member UN Security Council will vote on Friday on a resolution that would permanently lift UN sanctions on Iran – a move that needs to be taken after the E3 launched the process.

The resolution is unlikely to get the minimum nine votes needed for adoption, diplomats say, and if it did, the US, UK, or France would veto it.