German FM urges talks after UN sanctions return on Iran

Germany wants a negotiated solution to limit Iran’s nuclear program after the reimposition of United Nations sanctions, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said, according to Funke media group.

“Iran must never come into possession of a nuclear weapon,” Wadephul said. He added that while recent US and Israeli military strikes had set back Tehran’s program, “ultimately this is of course to be feared. That is why we are pushing for a negotiated solution to resolve this issue permanently.”

Wadephul said Tehran had shown a lack of credibility and transparency in past talks and that the return of sanctions was unavoidable. He said the decision by Iran’s rulers was a “serious mistake” that hit the Iranian people most.

He said Germany, along with Britain and France, had tried in recent months to prevent the sanctions by urging Iran back to negotiations. “I did not want to be accused of not having tried everything,” he said.

Western powers say Iran left no choice

France, Germany and the United Kingdom said the reimposition of UN sanctions was unavoidable after what they described as Iran’s persistent breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers said the snapback mechanism under Resolution 2231 had been triggered on August 28 and completed on September 27, restoring six previous sanctions resolutions. They said Iran had “exceeded all limits on its nuclear program” and was holding enriched uranium “48 times” the deal’s limit, with stockpiles of highly enriched uranium that “cannot exclude the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device.”

The European Union this week reinstated sweeping sanctions on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programs, restoring restrictions on oil, banking, transport and trade that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal. The EU said Iran had exceeded uranium enrichment limits “48 times” and that the snapback was the only option left.

Iran has rejected the return of sanctions as illegal and without effect. The foreign ministry said any attempt to revive resolutions that ended in 2015 was “null and void.” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote this week to Sri Lanka and the Maldives urging them to oppose the sanctions and warning that international law had become “a plaything for the United States.”

Tehran says all nuclear restrictions under Resolution 2231 must expire on October 18, 2025, and that it will not recognize any effort to extend or enforce them after that date.