While Iran’s regime, fearing the activation of the snapback mechanism and the return of international sanctions, has pleaded with Europe, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot stated on April 28, 2025 at a UN Security Council meeting, “It goes without saying that when the Iranian nuclear deal expires in a few weeks, if European security interests are not guaranteed, we will not hesitate for a single second to reapply all the sanctions that were lifted 10 years ago.”
He added, “These sanctions would then permanently close off Iranian access to technology, investment, and the European market, with devastating effects on the country’s economy. This is not what we want, and that is why I solemnly call on Iran to take the necessary decisions today to avoid the worst.”
Prior to the remarks by the French Foreign Minister—whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council—Reuters reported, “Iran has proposed meeting the European parties to a 2015 nuclear deal possibly in Rome this Friday if talks resume with the United States… Iran’s reach out to Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, suggests Tehran is keeping its options open, but also wants to assess where the Europeans stand on the possible re-imposition of U.N. sanctions before October, when a resolution ratifying the 2015 accord expires… An Iranian official confirmed the proposal, but said the E3 had not responded so far.”
Earlier, on April 24, 2025, regime foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, after hurried trips to Beijing and Moscow, made a pleading overture by inviting himself to London, Paris, and Berlin. He wrote on X: “Last September in New York, I offered dialogue when I met E3 FMs and indeed any other European counterpart. Instead of confrontation, I put forward cooperation not only on the nuclear issue, but in each and every other area of mutual interest & concern. They unfortunately chose the hard way.
“I once again propose diplomacy. After my recent consultations in Moscow & Beijing, I am ready to take the first step with visits to Paris, Berlin & London. I was ready to do it before Iran commenced its indirect dialogue with the U.S., but the E3 opted out.”
While Europe has left these regime requests unanswered, Tehran continues its contradictory positions amidst its crises. The spokesperson for the Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, after a meeting between the commission and Majid Takht-Ravanchi, a member of the regime’s negotiating team with the U.S., issued a threat, saying: “Another point emphasized in this meeting was that if the snapback mechanism is activated, we will activate our own levers, including withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)” (Mehr News Agency, April 27, 2025).
The threat of withdrawing from the NPT, coupled with supplicating requests to Europe out of fear of the snapback mechanism, indicates the desperation, lack of solutions, and depth of the crisis facing a regime floundering in the swamp of domestic and international crises. Meanwhile, what becomes clear to observers and the regime’s counterparts is the deceitfulness and untrustworthiness of the mullahs’ government.
Regarding the regime’s nuclear deception, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), warned ten years ago, concurrent with the JCPOA agreement: “Circumventing six UN Security Council resolutions [encompassing sanctions imposed on Iran before the 2015 nuclear deal] and an unsigned agreement, which lacks the requirements of an official international treaty, would neither block the mullahs’ pathways to deception nor their access to a nuclear bomb.”
The Iranian Resistance has repeatedly emphasized that the first immediate and necessary step to prevent this terrorist dictatorship from obtaining a nuclear bomb is to activate the snapback clause in UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and reactivate the six previous Security Council resolutions concerning the regime’s nuclear projects. UNSC Resolution 2231 endorsed the JCPOA and contains the provision for the snapback mechanism.