For over 20 years, Europe has been at the heart of an ongoing manufactured crisis against my country’s peaceful nuclear program. In many respects, the role of Europe reflects the broader state of international power relations. Peaceful forces that once tried to restrain the warlike America for maximalist purposes in our region today allow for the excesses of Washington.
Last week, the UK, France, Germany or E3 said it had stimulated the process of “snapback” UN sanctions against Iran. This mechanism was set up to punish important bad assets based on a 2015 nuclear deal signed by Iran, E3, the US, China and Russia.
E3’s Gambit lacks legal status, primarily as it ignores the series of events that led Iran to adopt legal remedies under the nuclear deal.
The three hope that the world is not Iran, but the United States, and that it is the United States that ended its unilateral participation in the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCOPA), the official name of the contract. E3 also omits the way that it failed to maintain some of the bargain, let alone an outrageous welcome to the June bombing of Iran.
The UK, France and Germany may seem to act nonetheless. But the truth is that they are enthusiastically pursuing a reckless course of action based on the logic that they can provide seats to tables on other issues. This is a serious miscalculation that is bound by backfire. President Trump has made it clear that he considers E3 to be a tangential actor. This is evident in the way Europe is on the sidelines from issues essential to its future. The message from Washington is loud and clear. To gain relevance, E3 must demonstrate immortal loyalty. A recent image of European leaders sat in an oval office before President Trump could clearly highlight the dynamic.
Things weren’t necessarily like this. When E3 was founded in 2003, Iran welcomed the effort when it suppressed the George W. Bush administration after the Afghanistan and Iraqi invasion. But the lecture collapsed when Europe failed to provide substantial things or confront Washington. At the time, my colleagues wanted Iran to hold 200 centrifuges for small-scale uranium enrichment, but came across American maximalism channeled through E3. The war did not erupt as the United States awakened by the heavy price tag (both blood and treasure) that illegally occupying Iranian neighbors east and west.
Following the eight-year sanctions race between Iran and the West, my country has accumulated 20,000 centrifuges 100 times more than 2005. Two important dynamics have enabled unprecedented dialogue. This basic reorganization led directly to the JCPOA signature. The bargain was easy: in exchange for the end of sanctions, curbs against unprecedented surveillance and Iran’s enrichment. The formula worked.
But a year later, we were back almost square. President Trump began a cascade of avoidable events when he stopped our participation in the JCPOA in 2018 and reimposed all sanctions.
Initially distraught by the blockade of the landmark agreement, E3 pledged to repair it, publicly recognising it as “a critical part of the agreement, and “releasing nuclear sanctions and normalizing trade relations with Iran.” French finance minister Bruno Le Maier thundered that Europe is not a “vassal”, and other European leaders argued that their “strategic autonomy” would ensure continued trade with Iran, and that dividends pledged to my people, including selling oil and gas along with effective banking transactions. None of them have been realized.
While Europe does not support its own obligations, it expects Iran to unilaterally accept all restrictions. Showing this mentality, the UK, France and Germany refused to condemn the US attacks on my country on the eve of diplomatic talks in June, but are now demanding that they refuse dialogue against Iranians.
They warned their E3 counterparts, so their gambits won’t achieve the results they seek. On the contrary, it only takes them further bystanding them from future diplomacy, bringing broad negative consequences to all Europe in terms of their global credibility and status.
There is still time and miserable need for honest conversation.
It makes no sense for E3 to assert its participation in Iran’s uranium enrichment trade, demanding that Iran’s extremely capable. As the German Prime Minister did, illegal military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities protected by international law do not constitute “participation.”
This lawless action promotes a demand for action to ensure “never again”, but Iran remains open to diplomacy.
In exchange for the end of the sanctions, they are ready to fake realistic and permanent bargains with round iron surveillance and concentrated curbs. If you don’t seize this window of fleeting opportunity, you can have devastating consequences on a whole new level, both locally and beyond.
Israel may be selling themselves that they can play war on behalf of the West. But, like in June, the truth is that Iran’s powerful army is ready and can once again run to beat Israel and save “daddy.” Israeli Gambit, which failed this summer, predicted that it would cost American taxpayers billions of dollars, steal the US vital hardware that is currently missing from stock, and dragged Washington into a rogue administration war as a reckless actor.
If Europe really wants a diplomatic solution and President Trump wants to focus on real problems whose bandwidth is not manufactured in Tel Aviv, they need to give diplomacy the time and space it takes to succeed. The alternative is unlikely to be clean.
MNA/