MADRID, 15 (EUROPA PRESS)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Thursday that his government is "working with China and Russia" to prevent possible sanctions from Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, which have threatened Tehran with retaliation if it does not resume negotiations on its nuclear program by the end of August.
"If this happens, it will be negative (…) Its most important consequence is the return of the arms embargo. Furthermore, returning to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter and portraying Iran as a 'threat to international peace and security' could have negative legal and political consequences, which must be countered. We are working with China and Russia to prevent the implementation of the 'snapback,'" he said during an interview with the state television network IRIB, where he asserted that "if it doesn't work, we have the tools to respond."
The Iranian foreign minister made these statements a day after the three E3 countries stated in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres that they are prepared to activate the mechanism to reinstate the sanctions previously imposed on the Central Asian country unless Iran resumes negotiations on its nuclear program.
In the letter, the three countries allege that Tehran has a total stockpile of 8,400 kilograms of enriched uranium, which represents more than 40 times the limit set by the 2015 agreement and includes more than 400 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium, according to the latest data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Talks on this issue have been stalled for several years, especially now following the conflict unleashed by Israel on June 13, when it launched a military offensive against Iran, which responded by launching hundreds of missiles and drones against Israeli territory.
The United States later joined Israel's offensive with a series of bombings against three Iranian nuclear facilities—Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan—although a ceasefire has been in effect between the two sides since June 24.
Israel claimed the aim of its offensive was to counter Tehran's alleged nuclear weapons program, in attacks launched just days before a new meeting scheduled between Iran and the United States, the sixth, to try to reach a new agreement on Iran's nuclear program.
In 2018, during his first term, US President Donald Trump announced Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the historic 2015 agreement, which included numerous inspections and restrictions on Tehran's program.
