France, Germany, and the United Kingdom triggered the start of a process to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran on Thursday, a process known as a “snapback.” The three countries, known collectively as the E3, are all parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which allowed for the resumption of sanctions that were suspended by the deal in case diplomacy with the Iranian regime to rein in its nuclear program did not yield a result. Trump walked away from the deal in 2018, during his first term in office, and has spent much of his second term thus far negotiating with (and bombing) Iran over its nuclear program.
The international sanctions, which have been suspended by the United Nations for the past decade, will now go back into effect in a little over a month unless Iran can stave them off with some eleventh-hour diplomacy in the meantime.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the snapback but reiterated that Washington remains open to continued engagement with Iran. “The United States appreciates the leadership of our E3 allies in this effort,” he said in a
statement. “Over the coming weeks, we will work with them and other Members of the UN Security Council to successfully complete the snapback of international sanctions and restrictions on Iran.”