Russia Rejects E3 “Snapback” Sanctions on Iran as “Null and Void”

By Staff, Agencies

A senior Russian diplomat has dismissed the reactivation of UN sanctions against Iran under the so-called “snapback” mechanism, calling the move by Britain, France, and Germany (E3) legally baseless.

“Russia has all reasons to believe that snapback is null and void,” Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, wrote on X Monday.

He argued that the E3 had “gravely violated” the procedure set out in the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The three European states declared over the weekend that UN sanctions on Iran were restored as of Sunday midnight GMT.

The measures freeze Iranian assets abroad, prohibit arms transactions, and target Tehran’s missile program.

The step came after the United States and its allies vetoed a draft resolution, introduced by China and Russia, seeking to delay the sanctions’ reactivation.

Iran also condemned the move, accusing the UN Security Council of bowing to Western pressure.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X that the Council’s failure to extend Resolution 2231 showed the dominance of a so-called “rules-based order” where “one ruler dictates and the E3 merely obey.”

Baghaei linked the decision to Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran, launched under former US President Donald Trump.

The reinstated measures mark a new escalation in the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, deepening tensions between Western powers and the Russia-China bloc.

Moscow and Tehran both maintain that the E3’s attempt to trigger the snapback lacks legal validity under the JCPOA framework, which the US abandoned in 2018.