France, Germany and Britain reinstate sanctions on Iran

France, Germany and Britain will probably reinstate international sanctions on Iran by the end of the month after Tehran took the latest round of talks aimed at preventing them lightly, French President Emmanuel Macron said today, quoted by "Reuters" and BNR.

At the end of August, France, Germany and Britain, known as the E3, triggered a 30-day process to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran. Paris, Berlin and London set conditions that Tehran had to meet in September to avoid this mechanism.

The E3 proposal to postpone the reinstatement of sanctions by up to six months was conditional on Iran restoring access to UN inspectors to its enriched uranium stockpiles. Iran was also required to begin negotiations with the US over its nuclear program.

In an interview with Israel's "Channel 12", Macron stressed that sanctions would be reinstated, as the latest information from Iran "cannot be considered serious".

Yesterday, the foreign ministers of the three European countries had a telephone conversation with their Iranian counterpart, during which both sides acknowledged that there was no significant progress, although there was still a possibility of trying to reach an agreement.

The UN Security Council will put to a vote tomorrow a resolution that provides for the lifting of sanctions against Iran. Diplomats predict that it will probably not gather the nine votes needed for adoption, and even if it does, it will be blocked by a veto from the US, UK or France. The rejection of the resolution, supported by Russia and China, would lead to the reinstatement of sanctions.