Iran slams Macron for telling Israelis snapback ‘done deal’ despite Tehran’s reasonable proposal
Iran has expressed strong criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron for addressing an Israeli television channel to dismiss a “reasonable” proposal put forward by Tehran aimed at preventing the snapback of sanctions, and to declare the matter as a “done deal.”
In a post on his X account on Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei asked why the French president would reject a Tehran proposal which he himself admitted was “reasonable”.
“Why should president Macron be ‘rushing’ to select an Israeli tv channel to reject what he admits to be a REASONABLE proposal from Iran and instead reassure his ‘selected’ audience that snap-back is a ‘done deal’?!” Baghaei asked.
In an interview on Israel’s Channel 12 on Thursday, Macron said Britain, France and Germany—signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—will likely re-impose international sanctions on Iran by the end of the month.
When asked if the so-called “snapback” sanctions would be triggered, Macron responded in the affirmative, claiming that Iran’s efforts to avoid them were “not serious”.
The United Nations Security Council will vote Friday on re-imposing economic sanctions on Iran over its nuclear energy program.
On August 28, the European troika notified the UN Security Council that they had invoked the so-called snapback mechanism, a 30-day process to restore all UN sanctions against Iran.
Iran rejected the illegitimate move by Britain, France, and Germany, given the US’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA and the European trio’s alignment with unlawful sanctions against Iran instead of fulfilling their own commitments.
In a phone call with his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the European troika’s activation of the so-called snapback mechanism is a move aimed at “increasing tension.”
Araghchi characterized the activation of the mechanism as an action “devoid of any political or legal significance,” taken solely to increase tension and crisis.
