With eye on UN arms embargo, Britain, France, Germany to discuss Iran

Britain, France and Germany will on Friday define their Iran strategy for the coming months amid talks at the United Nations and violations by Tehran of a 2015 nuclear deal, France’s foreign ministry said.

Under Iran’s deal with world powers to accept limits to its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions, a UN weapons embargo is due to expire in October. The United States, which exited the deal in 2018, says it wants to extend the embargo.

If the UN Security Council does not extend the embargo, Washington has threatened to trigger a so-called snapback of all UN sanctions on Iran, using a process outlined in the nuclear deal.

Such a move would be likely to kill the nuclear accord.

“The (foreign) ministers are meeting to see what Europe can do to end these violations by the Iranians, while keeping the deal, but also to discuss how to avoid a snapback in New York,” said a European diplomat.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement that the ministers, who meet in Berlin, would also discuss Iran’s cooperation with the UN watchdog.

The UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution submitted by the three countries on Friday calling on Iran to stop denying the agency access to two suspected former sites and to cooperate fully with it.