France said on Sunday it will push for sweeping global embargoes on Iran unless a broader deal is reached by the end of August covering not just Tehran’s nuclear program but its missile and regional activities.
“We now want a more comprehensive agreement that would encompass both the nuclear dimension of Iranian destabilization activities, but also it's the ballistic component, as well as the regional destabilization activities,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on CBS News’ Face the Nation.
Barrot warned that Iran’s repeated violations of the 2015 nuclear accord had rendered the previous terms obsolete.
“Unless a new and robust and durable and verifiable agreement is reached by the end of the summer, France, Germany and the UK will have no other choice but to reapply the global embargoes that were lifted 10 years ago,” he said. These include bans on arms, nuclear equipment and banking.
Barrot said Paris has been in weekly contact with US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and has supported efforts to reengage Iran diplomatically since the ceasefire following last month’s war with Israel.
“We have pressed Iran, after the 12-day war, to go back to a discussion with the US,” Barrot said. “If there is no solid agreement that can be found by the end of August, we will have no other option but to snap back.”
Once activated, all UN sanctions on Iran without the possibility of veto from Russia or China.
In Tehran, senior official Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr dismissed the threat. “Even if the snapback mechanism is activated, it has no effect and we should not be concerned about it,” he said. “The new negotiation should be about why America betrayed the talks.”
Zolghadr said that renewed sanctions would be ineffective. “Given the current state of the country, new sanctions cannot create restrictions,” he said, adding that Iran had “discovered methods rendering sanctions obsolete.”
