Iran International
A decisive UN Security Council vote setting Iran on course for the automatic return of pre-2015 sanctions has heightened tensions inside Tehran, as rival factions clash over strategy while officials strive to project a unified message abroad.
The resolution that could have lifted the sanctions was rejected after nine members voted against it on Friday, meaning they will be reimposed on 27 September unless a drastic diplomatic breakthrough prompts the Council to reconsider before then.
“The carelessness and passivity of the Islamic Republic in the face of the snapback is truly astonishing,” wrote outspoken sociologist Hossein Hamdieh on X, urging leaders to “wrest the national interests from the devil’s mouth in the middle of hell.”
Ultra-hardliners, meanwhile, remain opposed to any concession and lay the blame for the so-called snapback at the moderates’ door for agreeing to a deal with such mechanisms a decade ago.
“This flawed mechanism is the result of the mistakes of the JCPOA negotiating team in 2015, including Mr. Araghchi himself,” lawmaker Amir-Hossein Sabeti wrote on X.
“The cost of implementing the snapback is less than the cost of extending it,” he added, arguing that prolonging the deadline would strip Iran of its “nuclear ambiguity” card.
Diplomacy or publicity stunt?
Araghchi’s authority, under attack at home, is also being questioned abroad.
A day earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron had called the sanctions return a “done deal” and questioned whether Araghchi had full authority when presenting his recent IAEA agreement and proposal to the Europeans.
Araghchi rejected the claim, writing on X that he enjoyed the backing of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Analysts in Tehran said Macron’s comments were aimed at pressuring Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to openly endorse or reject the initiatives.
Skepticism also persists over Araghchi’s timing.
“The proposal ahead of the UNSC vote on Resolution 2231 was not meant as a serious move,” Turkey-based analyst Ruhollah Rahimpour wrote on X.
Submitting such a plan just two days before the vote, he argued, meant “you have no sense of timing, or you only sought publicity.”
Last chance?
Some analysts believe the UN General Assembly next week could be Tehran’s final opportunity to resolve the standoff.
“The only chance remaining is that Iran’s proposals are submitted in writing and signed, and direct dialogue between Iran and the United States takes place when Pezeshkian is in New York,” Canada-based commentator Alireza Namvar-Haghighi told Iran International.
Both US and Iranian envoys said after the UNSC vote on Friday that the door is not shut to diplomacy. A negotiated way to avoid UN sanctions is still possible — but not probable.
