Paul K. Kerr
UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015), which the council adopted on July 20, 2015, implements the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and contains other provisions concerning Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran’s development of missiles, and arms transfers to and from Iran. In August 2020, the United States invoked the resolution’s “snapback” mechanism, which requires the Security Council to reimpose UN sanctions lifted pursuant to Resolution 2231 and the JCPOA. (See CRS Report R40094, Iran’s Nuclear Program: Tehran’s Compliance with International Obligations, by Paul K. Kerr.) Although that effort failed, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (UK) (collectively known as the “E3”) on August 28, 2025, invoked the snapback mechanism, which resulted in the sanctions’ reimposition on September 27, 2025.
Resolution 2231 stipulates that the council, which has been seized of the “Iranian nuclear issue” since 2006, was to end its consideration of the matter on October 18, 2025. The resolution’s snapback mechanism would then have ceased to be operational. The 2025 invocation of snapback not only reimposes previously terminated sanctions but also extends them, and Iran’s nuclear program as a subject of Security Council consideration, indefinitely.
No comments:
Post a Comment