Parliament speaker says key decisions taken on snapback sanctions

Iran’s army is watching adversaries closely and will respond firmly to any hostile act, the army chief said on Sunday as UN sanctions were reimposed under the snapback mechanism.

“We are constantly monitoring the enemy and will respond strongly to any wrong or false move,” Amir Hatami said.

“The army, with eyes always awake, will carry out its mission,” he added.

Snapback sanctions will complicate exports and imports and increase trade costs, Iran’s trade promotion organization said on Sunday.

“The snapback mechanism will make the process of exporting and importing goods and services more difficult and will certainly increase the cost of trade services,” deputy Amir Roshanbakhsh Ghanbari said.

"China and Russia will come to Iran’s aid instead of implementing the snapback.”

Ghanbari called the organization’s measures to counter the sanctions confidential. “The measures must remain confidential because if announced, some of the channels we have in mind may be harmed,” he said.

All United Nations member states must reapply sanctions after their reinstatement under the snapback mechanism, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement.

“We urge all UN member states to implement these sanctions,” the ministers said. “The outcome of the Security Council vote was an unambiguous no,” they added, noting that the Council rejected a resolution to maintain sanctions relief.

Their action, the ministers said, was driven by Iran’s refusal to comply with the 2015 nuclear deal.

“Iran has no credible civilian justification whatsoever for its HEU stockpile,” they said, citing ten significant quantities of highly enriched uranium now held outside IAEA monitoring.

Triggering the mechanism was a last resort after years of failed diplomacy, the E3 ministers added.

“Despite these long-standing violations, the E3 have continuously made every effort to avoid triggering snapback... Instead, Iran chose to reject offers and expand its nuclear activities in clear breach of its commitments.”

While pressing for enforcement, the E3 also emphasized diplomacy remains possible.

“The reimposition of UN sanctions is not the end of diplomacy. We urge Iran to refrain from any escalatory action.”

Iran has no program to manage the country following the 12-day war and the reactivation of the UN snapback mechanism, parliament’s economic committee member Hossein Samsami said on Sunday.

“It was expected that clear plans would be ready for tougher days ahead,” he said.

“I doubt the government’s special economic program will prepare the country properly for the coming period,” Samsami added.

Iran’s armed forces are fully prepared to respond to any threat or potential assault, armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Sunday.

“Unity between the army and the Revolutionary Guards is the guarantor of preserving Iran’s territorial integrity,” Mousavi said during a meeting with the Guards’ commander.

“The armed forces are fully ready to confront any threat or possible aggression with strength,” he added, speaking as the UN snapback sanctions against Iran took effect.