France, Britain, and Germany have warned Iran that they expect concrete progress on nuclear talks soon. If Iran does not take clear steps by the end of summer, these European countries said they will push to bring back United Nations sanctions against Tehran.

The foreign ministers of these three nations, known as the E3, spoke on Thursday with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. This was their first conversation since recent air strikes by Israel and the US targeted Iran’s nuclear program in June.

A French diplomatic source said the ministers urged Iran to immediately return to the negotiating table to reach a “verifiable and lasting” deal on its nuclear activities.

The E3 countries are part of a group, along with China and Russia, that signed the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran. That deal eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.

SNAPPING BACK SANCTIONS IF NO PROGRESS

The current UN Security Council resolution supporting the nuclear deal will expire on October 18. After that, the UN can reinstate sanctions if Iran is found to have broken the terms of the agreement. The process to restore sanctions would take about 30 days.

Europe has made it clear that without a new nuclear deal, it will trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism. This would bring back all previous UN sanctions on Iran.

“The ministers also reiterated their determination to use the so-called ‘snapback’ mechanism in the absence of concrete progress toward such an agreement by the end of the summer,” the French source said. However, the officials did not specify what kind of progress Iran must show.

Since the recent air strikes, UN inspectors have pulled out of Iran, complicating efforts to oversee the country’s nuclear activities. Although Iran claims it is willing to engage in diplomacy, there are currently no signs that talks between Washington and Tehran will restart in the near future.

– Ends

With inputs from Reuters

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