Rubio Says Iran To Face Major Sanctions If No Nuke Deal By End Of August
On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the U.K., reached an agreement to consider the end of August as the effective deadline for finalizing a nuclear agreement with Iran, as reported by three sources to Axios.
If negotiations do not progress beyond this deadline, the three European nations intend to activate the “snapback” provision, which would automatically restore all UN Security Council sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 Iran agreement, according to the outlet.
The process of reactivating the “snapback” mechanism takes 30 days, a period that the Europeans aim to utilize before Russia assumes the presidency of the UN Security Council in October. U.S. and European officials view the snapback as both a means to exert pressure on Tehran and a fallback option should the negotiations fail, Axios reported.
Conversely, Iran maintains that there is no legal justification for reinstating those sanctions and has warned of its intention to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in response, the report further indicated.
According to Axios, “The conversation between Rubio and his European counterparts was focused on aligning their positions regarding ‘snapback’ and the future of nuclear diplomacy with Iran, as stated by the sources.” “Two of the sources mentioned that the Europeans are now planning to engage with Iran in the upcoming days and weeks, conveying the message that Iran can avert the snapback sanctions if it takes measures to reassure the international community about its nuclear program.”
Following the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Iran, the Trump administration has aimed to rekindle discussions on a new nuclear agreement. Officials from France, Germany, the U.K., and Israel expressed concerns that Washington might encourage its European allies to delay the snapback sanctions, fearing that such an action could jeopardize the ongoing negotiations, as cited by the outlet, referencing its sources.
During his visit to the White House last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and envoy Steve Witkoff regarding the snapback issue. Netanyahu requested Trump not to hinder the mechanism and encouraged Witkoff to inform Iran that time was of the essence if they sought a deal, warning against the reinstatement of UN sanctions.
“We felt that Trump and his team were in agreement with us,” stated an Israeli official.
Last month, President Donald Trump mentioned that Israeli agents had inspected Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility after U.S. airstrikes and reported that the site was “completely destroyed.”
He also cautioned that further measures would be taken if Iran resumed uranium enrichment, as reported by FirstPost.
“They have personnel who enter after the strike, and they indicated it was total destruction,” Trump remarked to attendees and reporters at a NATO meeting in The Hague this week.
Trump noted that Israel is in the process of preparing a comprehensive damage assessment and implied that Iran had insufficient time to move any materials from the site prior to the strike.
He likened the U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, asserting that both had a similarly decisive impact in halting the conflict.
Trump’s language became increasingly dramatic throughout the day, as he dismissed reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) indicating that Iran’s 400kg stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium had gone missing, as further noted by Forbes.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed that Iran’s nuclear program had suffered considerable damage and would take years to reconstruct. “Several key nuclear facilities were destroyed,” he stated, referencing credible intelligence sources.
Earlier, a leaked report from the Defense Intelligence Agency shortly after the strikes asserted that the Iranian programs had merely been delayed “by months.” However, this evaluation — which media outlets such as CNN and the New York Times neglected to report — indicated that the intelligence was of “low confidence.”
Following the leak, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the FBI is collaborating with the Pentagon to identify the individual responsible for the leak and that criminal charges are probable.