Britain, France and Germany have triggered the dispute resolution mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the biggest step the Europeans have taken in response as Tehran has backed off nuclear commitments.
The US’s European allies have tried to keep the nuclear agreement from collapsing since President Donald Trump pulled out of it in 2018.
Under the agreement, international sanctions against Iran were lifted in return for Tehran agreeing to curb its nuclear programme.
The dispute will now be put to a Joint Commission comprising Iran, Russia, China, the three European powers, and the European Union and then on to the United Nations Security Council if that commission cannot resolve it.
If the Security Council does not vote within 30 days to continue sanctions relief, sanctions in place under previous UN resolutions would be reimposed – known as a “snapback”.
Iran has chosen to further reduce its compliance with the deal and announced on January 5 that in the fifth step in reducing its commitments it would no longer restrict its nuclear proliferation, the E3 (UK, France and Germany) foreign ministers said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“We have therefore been left with no choice, given Iran’s actions, but to register today our concerns that Iran is not meeting its commitments under the JCPoA and to refer this matter to the Joint Commission under the Dispute Resolution Mechanism, as set out in paragraph 36 of the JCPoA,” they said.
The Telegraph understand the decision was taken jointly last month, in response to Iran’s stage three and four renouncements of nuclear deal commitments, which are considered to be irreversible and pose proliferation threat.
They are keen for it not to escalate to the stage where global sanctions are reintroduced.
Instead the move is intended to buy time for Iran and the US to get back on some kind of diplomatic track to resolve their differences, which is the only way to save the deal and in the view of the E3 prevent an Iranian bomb.
Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, meanwhile, said it was important for the US and Iran to re-open talks, suggesting a new deal with Tehran, which could be called the “Trump Deal” was the best option.