Britain, Germany, and France moved toward implementing more sanctions against Iran after Tehran said it would not comply with any restrictions on enriching uranium following the U.S. strike that killed top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.
The European countries said they had “sought to persuade Iran to change course” and “worked hard” to address its concerns. They said there were, however, few options left, given Iran’s decision, except to trigger a dispute mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal.
“We have therefore been left with no choice, given Iran’s actions, but to register today our concerns that Iran is not meeting its commitments” under the nuclear agreement, the countries said in a joint statement Tuesday.
Triggering the mechanism gives the parties up to 60 days to negotiate about Iran coming back into full compliance with the deal, according to the New York Times. It could end in reviving United Nations sanctions on Iran, but the European countries said they remain committed to saving the deal and would not be joining the United States’ “maximum pressure” campaign.
President Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and has imposed several rounds of sanctions on the country. Iran has responded by gradually exceeding many of the limitations it agreed to in the deal.
