Iran will no longer implement any of its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, which expired on Saturday, the country’s foreign minister told the United Nations, once again refusing to acknowledge the reimposition of UN sanctions triggered by European powers last month.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a letter to the UN secretary-general and the president of the Security Council that the resolution’s termination on October 18 was “in full accordance with its explicit provisions.”
He added that all related restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program had now lapsed and that the Council’s involvement in Tehran’s peaceful nuclear activities had formally ended.
Araghchi said Iran had “implemented the JCPOA in good faith and with full precision” while the United States “grossly violated international law” by withdrawing in 2018 and reimposing unilateral sanctions.
The three European signatories, he wrote, “failed to meet their obligations and instead imposed additional unlawful measures.”
Referring to the European decision in August to trigger the deal’s snapback mechanism—which reimposed UN sanctions on Iran without the possibility of a veto—Araghchi called the move “unilateral and arbitrary” and said it had “no legal, procedural, or political basis.”
He warned that any claim to reinstate expired resolutions was “null and void.”
The same position was echoed on Saturday by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, who said Iran believes “no decision has been taken in the Security Council to bring back the lifted resolutions,” citing opposition from Russia, China, and several other Council members.
Russia, for its part, said on Friday it was ready to help defuse tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and urged all parties to avoid escalation.
Moscow’s foreign ministry said Western efforts to restore UN sanctions were “legally null and void,” adding that after the expiration of Resolution 2231, Iran’s nuclear program should be treated like that of any other non-nuclear-weapon state under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier described Iran’s acceptance of the snapback clause in 2015 as “a legal trap,” but said Moscow remained firmly committed to a political and diplomatic settlement of the dispute.
