Tehran has criticised Britain, France, and Germany for what it described as their failure to uphold commitments under the 2015 nuclear agreement, following fresh threats from the trio to reimpose sanctions on Iran’s atomic programme.
The deal, signed between Iran and six world powers — the UK, France, China, Russia, the United States, and Germany — was designed to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. However, the agreement began to unravel in 2018 after the United States, under President Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew and reimposed sweeping sanctions on Tehran.
Despite European pledges to salvage the agreement, their efforts to offset the impact of US sanctions fell short. Most Western businesses exited the Iranian market, contributing to the country’s deepening economic crisis.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei accused the European signatories of negligence and failing to implement the deal in good faith.
“The European parties have been at fault and negligent in implementing the agreement,” he said.
His comments came amid growing European frustration with Iran’s nuclear activity. France, Britain, and Germany recently warned they could trigger the UN’s snapback mechanism, a move that would reimpose international sanctions over Tehran’s alleged breaches of the deal.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that Iran is enriching uranium to 60 percent purity — far above the 3.67 percent limit agreed in 2015, and just short of weapons-grade level.
Baqaei called the threat of the snapback mechanism “meaningless, unjustifiable, and immoral”, insisting Iran only scaled back its commitments in response to Western non-compliance.
“Our reduction of commitments was carried out within the framework of the agreement itself,” he maintained.