The British, French and German Foreign Ministers said in a joint statement they would continue to seek “a new diplomatic solution to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon”.
They also called on Tehran “to refrain from any escalatory action”.
Iran has allowed UN inspectors to return to its nuclear sites, but President Masoud Pezeshkian said the United States had offered only a short reprieve in return for handing over its whole stockpile of enriched uranium, a proposal he described as unacceptable.
An 11th-hour effort by Iran allies Russia and China to postpone the sanctions until April failed to win enough votes in the Security Council on Friday, leading to the measures taking effect at midnight GMT on Sunday (12pm NZT).
Germany, which triggered the return of sanctions alongside Britain and France, had “no choice” as Iran was not complying with its obligations, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said.
“For us, it is imperative: Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon,” he told the UN General Assembly.
“But let me emphasise: we remain open to negotiations on a new agreement. Diplomacy can and should continue.”
Russia made clear it would not enforce the sanctions, considering them invalid.
The sanctions “finally exposed the West’s policy of sabotaging the pursuit of constructive solutions in the UN Security Council, as well as its desire to extract unilateral concessions from Tehran through blackmail and pressure”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Iran has long contended that it is not seeking nuclear weapons.
No longer just US sanctions
The sanctions are a “snapback” of measures frozen in 2015 when Iran agreed to major restrictions on its nuclear programme under a deal negotiated by former US President Barack Obama.
The United States already imposed massive sanctions, including trying to force all countries to shun Iranian oil, when President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in his first term.
Iran and the United States had held several rounds of Omani-brokered talks earlier this year before they collapsed in June when first Israel and then the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran has recalled its envoys from Britain, France and Germany for consultations, state television reported.
“The current [economic] situation was already very difficult, but it’s going to get worse,” an Iranian engineer, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Dariush, said.
“The impact of the renewed sanctions is already evident: the exchange rate is increasing and this is leading to higher prices,” the 50-year-old told AFP, lamenting a standard of living that is “much lower” than it was “two or three years ago”.
The US dollar was trading at around 1.12 million rials on the black market on the weekend, a record high, according to several currency tracking websites.
An AFP journalist at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar saw brisk business at jewellery stores as people rushed to buy gold.
Economic ‘malaise’
The United States already enforces unilateral sanctions on Iran and has put huge pressure on other countries to stop buying Iranian oil, although China has defied it.
Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group said Iran seemed dismissive of the renewed UN sanctions, as it had already worked out how to cope with the US ones.
But it noted that the snapback was not easy to reverse as it would require consensus at the Security Council.
“It is also likely to compound the malaise around an economy already struggling with high inflation, currency woes and deepening infrastructure problems,” it said.
In an address to the UN General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged no delay in reinstating the sanctions.
Netanyahu also hinted that Israel was ready to take further military action after the 12 days of bombing that Iranian authorities say killed more than 1000 people in June.
– Agence France-Presse
