European powers to begin UN sanctions process against Iran
Britain, France and Germany will begin the process of reimposing United Nations sanctions on Iran on Thursday, Reuters reports, citing two European diplomats.
The move, known as the “snapback” mechanism, is being initiated after the three governments said Iran failed to offer tangible commitments during nuclear talks earlier this week. A letter will be delivered to the UN Security Council later today.
The E3 hopes the action will pressure Iran to resume full cooperation with international inspectors and engage seriously in negotiations within the next 30 days. Tehran has warned it will respond harshly if sanctions are restored.
European powers to begin UN sanctions process against Iran | Iran International
Iran’s currency weakened sharply on Thursday as European nations prepared to trigger the return of United Nations sanctions under the snapback mechanism, deepening economic pressure on the Islamic Republic and adding to uncertainty around its nuclear program.
The sharp drop extends a steady decline in the rial over recent weeks. Currency dealers quoted the dollar at around 1,030,000 rials on the open market, according to local reports, compared to 957,000 rials last week.
Reuters has reported that Britain, France and Germany could begin the snapback process as early as Thursday after Iran failed to resume talks or restore cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. The three countries set a late August deadline earlier this month.
Markets react to snapback risk
The currency’s continued slide has heightened concerns among traders and the public, as sanctions could further restrict Iran’s access to global markets and increase pressure on imports, inflation, and employment.
Once triggered, the snapback process leads to the automatic reimposition of UN sanctions after 30 days unless the Security Council adopts a resolution to continue lifting them — a step that any permanent member can veto.
The measures would freeze Iranian overseas assets, ban arms deals with Tehran, and penalize missile development activities. They could also affect oil sales to China, one of Iran’s top customers.
Earlier this month, Iran International reported that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has warned senior officials and companies to prepare for renewed economic disruptions. Confidential guidance cited risks of "severe currency fluctuations, reduced purchasing power, increased unemployment, layoffs, and heightened social discontent."
Business group warns of worst-case currency spike
Iran’s Chamber of Commerce this week published a report forecasting three scenarios for the economy in the event of snapback sanctions. In its most pessimistic case, the rial could fall to 1.65 million per dollar, with annual inflation reaching 90 percent by the end of the year. Economic growth was projected to remain negative under all scenarios.
Time running out
The current UN resolution allowing use of the snapback mechanism is set to expire on October 18. Russia, which will assume the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council that month, has floated proposals to extend the measure. After the resolution expires, any future effort to restore UN sanctions would likely face a veto from China or Russia.
Under the existing mechanism, any party to the 2015 nuclear deal can initiate snapback by notifying the Security Council of Iranian non-compliance. Sanctions would then be automatically reinstated after 30 days unless the Council votes to continue lifting them — a step that can be blocked by any permanent member.
In recent weeks, Iran has made only limited diplomatic efforts to prevent that outcome. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week that talks alone were unlikely to avert further escalation, noting that negotiations had been ongoing when the June conflict with Israel erupted. “Sometimes war is inevitable,” he said in an interview with state media.
The IAEA, meanwhile, has called for inspections to resume “as soon as possible.” Inspectors were recently present to observe fuel replacement at the Bushehr nuclear reactor, operated with Russian support, but broader access to key enrichment and research sites remains suspended.
The government will soon be unable to cover health care expenses, an Iranian parliament member warned on Wednesday, citing rising costs, insurance debts, and an aging population.
The Islamic Republic risks losing the ability to fund its health system, said Reza Jabbari, a member of parliament’s presiding board, during a meeting with Health Minister Mohammadreza Zafarghandi.
“Based on submitted reports, 70 percent of insurance resources are spent on medicine and equipment, which could be significantly reduced through strategic purchasing,” Jabbari added.
Without reform, he said, demographic and dietary pressures could create in health care the same shortage already seen in Iran’s energy sector.
Iran may soon face a surge in chronic and non-communicable diseases, Jabbari warned.
“The country will no longer be able to pay health costs if the current situation continues.”
Debt to the pharmaceutical supply chain
The warning came a day after Shahram Kalantari, head of Iran’s Pharmacists Association, described the government as “the main debtor to the pharmaceutical supply chain.” Insurers have failed to pay most of their obligations this year, he said.
A hospital in Iran
“Health Insurance owes us $100 trillion rials ($100 million), Social Security owes $150 trillion rials ($150 million), and the Daroyar plan owes $90 trillion rials ($90 million) since July,” Kalantari said Tuesday.
The drug industry can only remain stable for 170 to 180 days if payments continue to be delayed, he cautioned. After that, shortages of essential medicines are likely.
Kalantari has previously said 80 percent of pharmacies in the country are on the brink of bankruptcy due to mounting debts from insurers and subsidy programs.
Rising burden on households
Other lawmakers have also highlighted the growing strain on families. Fatemeh Mohammadbeigi, deputy chair of the parliament’s Health Committee, said Iranians now pay about 70 percent of medical costs out of pocket.
She described the insurance system as “inefficient and near bankruptcy” due to poor management and a failure to consolidate coverage.
“This figure should be reversed, with people paying 30 percent and the government 70 percent,” Mohammadbeigi said earlier this month. Falling insurance coverage particularly harms low-income groups, she added.
Labor activists have also pointed to shrinking access. Abbas Shiri, a board inspector for the National Construction Workers’ Union, said on August 2 that fewer than 50,000 workers have gained insurance since 2020, leaving hundreds of thousands waiting.
The combined warnings from lawmakers, pharmacists, and labor groups underscore a health system burdened by debt, demographic pressures, and inadequate insurance coverage, with officials conceding that sustainability is in doubt.
An Iranian-American man was sentenced on Tuesday to one year in prison for secretly working with Iranian intelligence to obtain sensitive information on the US aviation and energy sectors.
Abouzar Rahmati, 43, a naturalized US citizen and resident of Great Falls, Virginia, received a 12-month sentence in US District Court in Washington after pleading guilty in April to acting as an unregistered agent of the Iranian government and to conspiracy.
Judge Loren L. AliKhan also ordered three years of supervised release.
“By secretly doing the bidding of the Iranian government, Mr. Rahmati violated the trust placed in him as a US citizen and as a federal contractor with access to sensitive information,” US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in announcing the sentence.
“Ensuring that sensitive US information does not fall into the hands of hostile foreign intelligence services remains one of our highest priorities.”
He traveled to Iran later that year, meeting intelligence officers and agreeing to gather information under the guise of academic research.
On his return, Rahmati collected both public and restricted materials on the US solar energy industry and provided them to Iranian officials. He later took a job with a Federal Aviation Administration contractor, where prosecutors said he accessed sensitive non-public data on aviation systems.
In 2022, Rahmati traveled to Iran with more than 170 gigabytes of FAA contractor files stored on removable media. Iranian intelligence officers told him they sought advanced technology unavailable in Iran and promised financial rewards for useful material, according to court records.
“Rahmati exploited his trusted position to obtain sensitive information about the US aviation sector and share it with the Iranian government,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel Wierzbicki said.
“Today’s sentencing demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to disrupt threats to US critical infrastructure.”
The FBI and FAA's counterintelligence division were involved in the investigation. Rahmati will begin serving his sentence immediately.
Iran has launched a clean-up operation at a nuclear-related site in northern Tehran that was struck by Israeli airstrikes in June, in a move that will likely remove evidence of any past nuclear weapons development work, a research group said on Wednesday.
Satellite images analyzed by the Institute for Science and International Security show damaged buildings being cleared at the Mojdeh site, also known as Lavisan 2, over a period of several weeks this summer.
“The rapid work by Iran to quickly demolish and clear the rubble of these important buildings appears to be an effort to sanitize the site,” the institute said.
The group added that the clean-up “will likely remove evidence of undeclared nuclear and nuclear-weapons related research and development activities.”
Site linked to earlier weapons program
The Mojdeh site has been linked by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to Iran’s Amad Plan, a covert nuclear weapons program that US and IAEA assessments say ended in 2003. The agency has said it found a direct connection between the Mojdeh site and that effort, though it was never allowed to inspect the area or question key personnel.
The institute, a Washington-based research group led by former UN inspector David Albright, cited high-resolution satellite imagery from MAXAR Technologies showing clean-up operations underway between early July and mid-August. By mid-August, buildings at the Mojdeh site associated with the Institute for Applied Physics and the Shahid Karimi Group, both struck in Israeli airstrikes during the June conflict, had been razed and cleared, the report said.
Pattern of site sanitization
Iran has previously conducted clean-up operations at other sites believed to have hosted undeclared nuclear-related activities. “Iran has previously sanitized sites to stonewall IAEA inspectors and hide its past nuclear weapons development work,” the institute said.
The Shahid Karimi Group has been sanctioned by the US Treasury for involvement in explosives and missile work under Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), viewed by Western governments as the successor to the Amad Plan.
Tehran has not commented on the Mojdeh site or the recent imagery. Iranian officials deny seeking nuclear weapons and maintain that the country's nuclear program is peaceful.
France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the European Union told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio they will trigger the UN snapback sanctions mechanism against Iran on Thursday, Axios reported, citing three sources with direct knowledge.
Reuters previously reported that the E3 were likely to begin the process this week, citing four diplomats familiar with the discussions.
The mechanism could lead to the reimposition of all United Nations Security Council sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, depending on whether a diplomatic solution is reached in the coming weeks.
Diplomats cite Iran's failure to act
European officials told Axios the decision follows months of unproductive talks. The European powers, known as the E3, had warned Iran they would act by the end of August unless Tehran resumed nuclear negotiations with the US, restored access for UN inspectors and addressed concerns over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
A senior European diplomat said Iran had taken no clear steps to meet these demands and failed to offer detailed proposals during a meeting in Geneva this week. The diplomat said Iran was in "clear violation" of the nuclear agreement and left no room to extend the deadline.
Iran threatens to end inspector cooperation
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Wednesday that if the Europeans activate snapback, Iran will retaliate, including by halting cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Gharibabadi also argued the E3 no longer have the legal standing to invoke the snapback since, in Iran's view, they have not upheld their side of the 2015 deal. He warned that activating the mechanism would halt progress with UN inspectors, who recently re-entered Iran after months of restricted access.
UN sanctions to return unless deal is reached
Under Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 agreement, any party can trigger snapback by filing a complaint of non-compliance. If the Security Council does not resolve the issue within 30 days, all prior UN sanctions could automatically return. These include arms embargoes, missile restrictions and inspections of Iranian cargo.
European officials said they hope to finalize the process before Russia assumes the rotating presidency of the Security Council in October. One diplomat told Axios that diplomacy remains possible in the next few weeks, despite the activation of snapback.
Nuclear program still monitored at Bushehr
Gharibabadi said IAEA inspectors were recently allowed to monitor Iran’s Bushehr power plant. He said their presence is necessary to avoid a shutdown, as the Russian-supplied reactor must be refueled in the presence of inspectors.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added that Iran will continue cooperation with the IAEA at Bushehr, though broader access could be restricted.
Diplomacy stalls
Since June, Iran and the European parties have held two rounds of talks — in Istanbul in July and Geneva on Tuesday — without announcing progress. Iran said the latest US sanctions on its shipping and aviation sectors prove Washington and Europe have failed to honor the deal.
Iran has also warned it could withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty if snapback proceeds. The process now moves into a 30-day window before sanctions could be restored.
