UK, France, Germany urge Iran to avoid escalation after UN sanctions snapback

Withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would not benefit Iran, former deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Monday.

“Perhaps it is better for us to maintain our commitment and goodwill today, unless the Islamic Republic’s interests dictate otherwise,” Pezhman Shirmardi said speaking to the semi-official Student News Network (SNN).

Shirmardi also criticized IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, calling him “weak” and “completely dependent on Israel and the United States,” and accused him of politicizing the agency’s work.

Support from China and Russia will minimize the impact of the reimposed UN sanctions on Iran, Behnam Saeedi, secretary of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee, said, adding that the sanctions carry more psychological than real economic effects.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is "currently holding negotiations in New York right now," Iranian lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian said on Monday without providing further details.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi met Germany’s federal foreign minister Johann Wadephul in Warsaw on Monday to discuss UN snapback sanctions on Iran and nuclear safety in Ukraine, he said on X.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet UN Secretary-General António Guterres at 19:30 on Monday.

The meeting comes a week after President Masoud Pezeshkian met Guterres on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.