According to Iran’s embassy in London, Mousavi and the British Minister for the Middle East and North Africa held talks in the capital city of Britain on Tuesday.
The diplomats discussed during the meeting the triggering of the so-called snapback by Britain, France, and Germany, collectively known as the European Troika or E3.
Mousavi reiterated Iran’s position, shared by China and Russia as permanent members of the UN Security Council, on the measure’s illegality.
Meanwhile, both sides stressed the importance of diplomacy and reaching a negotiated solution.
They sides also exchanged views on a range of bilateral issues during the session.
In 2015, Iran reached a landmark agreement with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China — along with Germany. This accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aimed to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
However, the deal began to unravel in 2018 when then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement. Following Washington’s exit, the European signatories — collectively referred to as the E3 (France, Germany, and Britain) — failed to uphold their commitments, prompting Iran to gradually scale back its compliance after a year of strategic patience.
Tensions escalated further on August 28, when the E3 formally submitted a notification to the UN Security Council to trigger the Dispute Resolution Mechanism (DRM) — also known as the Snapback Mechanism. This move seeks to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under Resolution 2231, the resolution that endorsed the JCPOA.
The move provoked reaction from Iranian, Chinese, and Russian officials.
IRNA