Iran was set to come under sweeping UN sanctions late Saturday for the first time in a decade — barring an unexpected last-minute breakthrough — after nuclear talks with the West floundered.
The UN nuclear watchdog on Friday said that inspectors had been allowed to return to Iranian sites, but Western powers did not see enough progress to agree to a delay after a week of top-level diplomacy at the UN General Assembly.
European powers set the clock ticking a month ago for the “snapback” of the UN sanctions, accusing Iran of failing to come clean on its nuclear program — including through countermeasures it took in response to Israeli and US bombing.
Iran on Saturday recalled its envoys in Britain, France, and Germany for consultations, after the three European countries triggered the mechanism, Iranian state television said.
The sanctions are set to go into effect at 0000 GMT on Sunday (8:00 p.m. on Saturday in New York).
They will set up a global ban on working with companies, people, and organizations accused of developing Iran’s nuclear program or ballistic missiles.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said there was no reason to reach a deal when, in his view, Israel and the United States were seeking to use the pressure to topple the Islamic republic.
“If the goal had been to resolve concerns on the nuclear program, we could easily do that,” Pezeshkian told reporters, as he insisted again that Iran will never pursue nuclear weapons.
Pezeshkian, who met during the week with French President Emmanuel Macron, said France had proposed that Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in return for a one-month delay in the return of sanctions.
“Why would we put ourselves in such a trap and have a noose around our neck each month?” he said.
He accused the United States of pressing the Europeans not to reach a compromise.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s friend and roving negotiator, had said that the United States does not want to hurt Iran and was open to further talks.
But Pezeshkian charged that Witkoff lacked seriousness, saying he had backtracked on agreements during earlier talks — which abruptly stopped when Israel launched its military campaign.
No Russia enforcement
The sanctions are aimed at imposing new economic pain to pressure Iran, but it remains to be seen if all countries will enforce them.
Russian deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said Friday that Moscow, a top partner of Iran, considered the reimposition of sanctions “null and void.”
Russia and China sought at the Security Council Friday to delay the reimposition of sanctions until April but failed to muster enough votes. AFP
