UN Security Council member states discuss snapback of Iran sanctions

The UN Security Council convened on Friday morning to discuss a draft resolution concerning the snapback of sanctions on Iran, a process initiated after European governments declared the country in significant non-performance of the 2015 nuclear deal.

South Korea, as Council president this month, placed the text in blue earlier in September. It contains a single operative paragraph affirming that past sanctions remain terminated, meaning adoption would preserve relief measures under resolution 2231.

European ministers said in an August 28 letter that Iran’s actions left no credible alternative to triggering the mechanism. They pointed to more than 8,400 kilograms of enriched uranium—forty times the agreed limit—including several hundred kilograms enriched to 60 percent. “Iran has yet to take the reasonable and precise actions necessary to reach an extension of resolution 2231,” the German Foreign Office said Wednesday.