Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi made the remarks in a phone conversation with IRIB News in response to Europe’s move to reinstate the UN Security Council resolutions, despite Iran’s maximum cooperation with the European Troika and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in recent days.

The UN Security Council on Friday voted against a draft resolution that would have permanently lifted sanctions linked to Iran’s nuclear program.

Gharibabadi said that although the UN Security Council adopted a resolution challenging Resolution 2231 and the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPOA), by attempting to extend sanctions relief for Iran, the measure was ultimately defeated after failing to secure the necessary votes.

Nine members opposed the measure, while Russia, China, Pakistan, and Algeria backed it, and two abstained. As a result, the UN sanctions against Iran will be re-imposed by September 28 if no agreement is reached.

“We, China, and Russia have presented our very detailed and legal arguments to the UN Security Council in recent months, and during these detailed arguments, we declared that the actions of these three countries to activate the snapback mechanism are completely illegal,” he noted.

Iran, on the other hand, “has always believed in diplomacy and interaction, and we made every effort to prevent the actions of European countries through diplomacy,” he added.

He warned that “if nothing special happens in the field of diplomacy” and the UN sanctions are reinstated, it would be a logical consequence for the agreement concluded with the IAEA in Cairo to be “completely stopped.”

On September 9, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi reached an agreement on practical modalities to resume cooperation after a meeting in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

It came after the Iranian Parliament unanimously passed legislation requiring the administration to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA following the Israeli-US aggression that targeted three of the country’s nuclear sites in a clear violation of international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Elsewhere in his remarks, Gharibabadi affirmed that the sanctions from the Security Council should be taken seriously; however, he contended that they will not add anything to the sanctions regime on Iran.

“We must be very careful not to fall into the trap of psychological operations that Western countries and the United States have designed for us,” he warned.

Regarding Iran’s potential response to recent developments, Gharibabadi confirmed that additional measures beyond suspending the agreement with the agency are currently being considered in upstream policy-making forums and will be announced in due course.

He added, however, that “the path of interaction and diplomacy is never closed,” emphasizing that even amid challenges or confrontations, dialogues and diplomatic engagements with various parties will continue in the coming days.