NEW YORK: Widespread UN sanctions against Iran returned into force late Saturday for the first time in a decade, after last-ditch nuclear talks with Western powers failed to produce a breakthrough. The sanctions, three months after Israel and the United States bombed Iran, bar dealings related to Tehran&#39;s nuclear and ballistic missiles program and are also expected to have wider effects on its troubled economy. European and US diplomats stressed immediately after the resumption of sanctions that diplomacy was not over. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Tehran to &quot;accept direct talks, held in good faith.&quot; He also called on UN member states to &quot;immediately&quot; implement sanctions to &quot;pressure Iran&#39;s leaders to do what is right for their nation, and best for the safety of the world.&quot; The British, French and German foreign ministers said in a joint statement they would continue to seek &quot;a new diplomatic solution to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.&quot; They also called on Tehran &quot;to refrain from any escalatory action.&quot; Iran has allowed UN inspectors to return to its nuclear sites, but President Masoud Pezeshkian said the United States had offered only a short reprieve in return for handing over its whole stockpile of enriched uranium, a proposal he described as unacceptable. An 11th-hour effort by Iran allies Russia and China to postpone the sanctions until April failed to win enough votes in the Security Council on Friday, leading to the measures taking effect at midnight GMT Sunday, or 8 pm on Saturday in New York. Germany, which triggered the return of sanctions alongside Britain and France, had &quot;no choice&quot; as Iran was not complying with its obligations, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said. &quot;For us, it is imperative: Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon,&quot; he told the UN General Assembly. &quot;But let me emphasize: we remain open to negotiations on a new agreement. Diplomacy can and should continue.&quot; Russia made clear it would not enforce the sanctions, considering them invalid. The sanctions &quot;finally exposed the West&#39;s policy of sabotaging the pursuit of constructive solutions in the UN Security Council, as well as its desire to extract unilateral concessions from Tehran through blackmail and pressure,&quot; Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Iran has long contended that it is not seeking nuclear weapons. No longer just US sanctionsThe sanctions are a &quot;snapback&quot; of measures frozen in 2015 when Iran agreed to major restrictions on its nuclear program under a deal negotiated by former president Barack Obama. The United States already imposed massive sanctions, including trying to force all countries to shun Iranian oil, when President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in his first term. Iran and the United States had held several rounds of Omani-brokered talks earlier this year before they collapsed in June when first Israel and then the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran recalled its envoys from Britain, France and Germany for consultations on Saturday, state television reported. &quot;The current (economic) situation was already very difficult, but it&#39;s going to get worse,&quot; said an Iranian engineer who asked to be identified only by his first name Dariush. &quot;The impact of the renewed sanctions is already evident: the exchange rate is increasing, and this is leading to higher prices,&quot; the 50-year-old told AFP, lamenting a standard of living that is &quot;much lower&quot; than it was &quot;two or three years ago.&quot; The dollar was trading at around 1.12 million rials on the black market on Saturday, a record high according to several currency tracking websites. An AFP journalist at Tehran&#39;s Grand Bazaar saw brisk business at jewelry stores as people rushed to buy gold. Economic &#39;malaise&#39;The United States already enforces unilateral sanctions on Iran and has put huge pressure on third countries to stop buying Iranian oil, although China has defied it. Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group said Iran seemed dismissive of the renewed UN sanctions as it had already worked out how to cope with the US ones. But it noted that the snapback was not easy to reverse as it would require consensus at the Security Council. &quot;It is also likely to compound the malaise around an economy already struggling with high inflation, currency woes and deepening infrastructure problems,&quot; it said. In an address to the UN General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged no delay in reinstating the sanctions. He also hinted that Israel was ready to take further military action after the 12 days of bombing that Iranian authorities say killed more than 1,000 people in June.&nbsp;

Portrait of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

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UN sanctions on Iran snap back after failed nuclear talks, three months after US and Israeli strikes. The measures target Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs, worsen its economic crisis, and leave diplomacy open but fragile.

Sweeping UN sanctions return to hit Iran after nuclear talks fail

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Iranian President says Washington demands Tehran hand over all its enriched uranium in return for a three-month reprieve from sanctions, rejecting this as "unacceptable".


Iran awaits 'snapback' of UN sanctions over its nuclear program

Sweeping UN sanctions look likely to return on Iran despite a last-ditch effort on Friday by China and Russia for a delay to allow further talks, diplomats say. European powers were urging Iran to reverse a series of steps it took after Israel and the United States bombed its nuclear sites in June. Complaining that Iran has not complied with a landmark but moribund deal, the Europeans have triggered a return of sweeping UN sanctions &mdash; notably on its banking and oil sectors &mdash; that are set to take effect at the end of Saturday. China and Russia at a Security Council session on Friday put forward a draft resolution, seen by AFP, that would give another half year for talks, or until April 18, 2026. But diplomats said they did not expect it to receive the nine votes on the 15-member Security Council for passage. French President Emmanuel Macron met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday and said a deal was possible to avoid the sanctions but that Iran had only hours left. One diplomat, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said late Thursday that the Europeans believed they had &quot;done everything to try to move things&quot; but that Iran did not offer the desired flexibility. France &mdash; speaking for itself, Germany and Britain &mdash; has told Iran it must allow full access to UN nuclear inspectors, immediately resume nuclear negotiations and offer transparency on highly enriched uranium, the whereabouts of which has been the subject of speculation. &nbsp;&#39;Illegal and irresponsible&#39;&nbsp;The 2015 deal, negotiated during Barack Obama&#39;s presidency, lifted sanctions in return for Iran drastically scaling back its controversial nuclear work. President Donald Trump in his first term withdrew from the deal and imposed sweeping unilateral US sanctions, while pushing the Europeans to do likewise. The Chinese and Russian draft resolution, in a reference to the United States, would call on all initial parties to the deal to &quot;immediately resume negotiations.&quot; On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, to discuss the row. Araghchi &quot;strongly criticized the position of the three European countries as unjustified, illegal and irresponsible,&quot; the Iranian foreign ministry said. Steve Witkoff, Trump&#39;s real estate friend and roving envoy who had been negotiating with Iran until Israel attacked, said on Wednesday that Iran was in a &quot;tough position&quot; but also held out hope for a solution. &quot;I think that we have no desire to hurt them. We have a desire, however, to either realize a permanent solution and negotiate around snapbacks,&quot; Witkoff told the Concordia summit on the sidelines of the General Assembly. &quot;If we can&#39;t, then snapbacks will be what they are. They&#39;re the right medicine,&quot; Witkoff said. Iran has long contended that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, pointing to an edict by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and US intelligence has not concluded that the country has decided to build a nuclear weapon. But Israel, the United States, and European countries have long been skeptical due to the country&#39;s advanced nuclear work, believing it could quickly pursue a bomb if it so decided. Standing at the General Assembly rostrum this week, Pezeshkian showed pictures of people killed in the 12-day Israeli military campaign against Iran in June, which Tehran says killed more than 1,000 people. The United States joined in the campaign on June 22, striking several of Iran&#39;s nuclear facilities.

Complaining that Iran has not complied with landmark but moribund deal, Europeans have triggered a return of sweeping UN sanctions that are set to take effect at the end of Saturday.



Iran sanctions look set to return after last-ditch UN vote

TEHRAN: Iran&#39;s top security body said Saturday that action by Britain, France and Germany to reimpose UN sanctions will &quot;effectively suspend&quot; its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.&nbsp;&quot;Despite the foreign ministry&#39;s cooperation with the (International Atomic Energy) Agency and the presentation of plans to resolve the issue, the actions of European countries will effectively suspend the path of cooperation with the agency,&quot; the Supreme National Security Council said in a televised statement.&nbsp;The announcement comes after the Security Council voted on Friday to reimpose frozen UN sanctions after the European governments activated the &quot;snapback&quot; mechanism in a decade-old nuclear agreement, accusing Iran of non-compliance.&nbsp;The vote means that the sanctions, which were suspended in return for curbs on Iran&#39;s nuclear activities set out in the 2015 deal, will take renewed effect on September 28 unless Iran can persuade the council to relent in the next week.&nbsp;Tehran said the action by the European powers undermined months of engagement with the IAEA aimed at resuming monitoring and ensuring compliance with international rules.&nbsp;Earlier this month, Iran and the IAEA reached an agreement in Cairo that would have allowed inspections of Iranian nuclear sites to resume.&nbsp;Iran had suspended them after Israel, and the United States attacked its nuclear facilities in June.&nbsp;Western governments have long accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition Tehran denies.&nbsp;Tehran has also criticized the IAEA for failing to condemn the Israeli and US strikes.&nbsp;The European governments have said they will not delay the reimposition of UN sanctions unless Iran resumes full cooperation with the IAEA and reopens nuclear talks with the United States, which have been suspended since June.

Iranian flag flies in front of a U.N. building 

The actions of European countries effectively suspend the path of cooperation with the agency, the Supreme National Security Council said in a televised statement.

Articles tagged with "UN sanctions on Iran"

Sweeping UN sanctions return to hit Iran after nuclear talks fail

Iran awaits 'snapback' of UN sanctions over its nuclear program

Iran sanctions look set to return after last-ditch UN vote

Iran says cooperation with IAEA suspended after European move on UN sanctions