U.S. and Europe gives Iran deadline for new nuclear deal or face new sanctions

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK have agreed to set the end of August as the unofficial deadline for reaching a new nuclear deal with Iran, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing three sources familiar with the talks.

If no agreement is reached by then, the three European powers are expected to trigger the “snapback” mechanism, which would automatically reimpose all United Nations Security Council sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The phone call was aimed at coordinating a unified strategy on Iran’s nuclear programme. According to two of the sources, European officials will soon urge Tehran to take specific steps to avoid snapback, including allowing renewed monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and removing around 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity currently stored in the country.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran was allowed to keep only up to 202.8 kilograms of low-enriched uranium. The U.S. pulled out of the agreement in 2018 during Donald Trump’s presidency and reimposed broad sanctions.

Iran denies having a nuclear weapons programme.

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