Efforts to Revive Expired Resolutions Reprobate

TEHRAN (Defapress) - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the action by 3 European countries (the UK, Germany, France) and the United States to abuse the dispute-resolution mechanism foreseen in the JCPOA and UN Security Council Resolution 2231 to reinstate previously rescinded resolutions against Iran to be illegal and unjustified, and emphasizes that Security Council Resolution 2231 and the restrictions contained therein regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear program should be regarded as having expired at the scheduled time (October 18, 2025).

The 3 European countries, while instigated and pressured by the United States to trigger the mechanism known as the “snapback,” have themselves committed “material breach” of their JCPOA obligations due to persistent and significant failures to perform their commitments and have abused the JCPOA dispute-settlement process. In addition, by explicitly or implicitly supporting the military aggression of the Zionist regime and the United States against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities, which were covered by the JCPOA and under the Agency’s safeguards regime, the 3 European countries have flagrantly violated international law and the non-proliferation regime, especially paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the UN Charter, and have plainly trampled the provisions of the JCPOA and Security Council Resolution 2231. Accordingly, the European parties to the JCPOA, like the United States, with manifest bad faith, have committed a grave and ongoing violation of the letter and spirit of the JCPOA and have made no sincere effort to resolve disputes in good faith.

The attempt to revive terminated resolutions is not only legally unfounded and unjustifiable, but is also completely objectionable from moral and logical standpoints. The peaceful nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran has already been comprehensively addressed in Security Council Resolution 2231 and its annex, the JCPOA, and its ten-year period should be considered to have ended on the scheduled date of October 18, 2025.

The 3 European countries have also failed to observe the provisions of Security Council Resolution 2231 during the process of pursuing the matter; operative paragraph 11 of Resolution 2231 explicitly states that the Security Council shall “take into account the views of the States concerned.” It is regrettable that, despite the clear positions of the other JCPOA participants, specifically Iran, China, and Russia, under pressure from the 3 European countries and the United States, the President of the Council put the draft resolution to an illegal vote. As underscored in the joint letter of the foreign ministers of China, Iran, and Russia dated 28 August 2025, the Security Council cannot act based on a distorted communiqué from the 3 European countries. Any action contrary to or inconsistent with Security Council Resolution 2231 cannot create legal obligations for United Nations member states.

Accordingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran rejects the claim by the 3 European countries and the United States of the reinstatement of prior resolutions that were terminated pursuant to Security Council Resolution 2231 in 2015, and stresses that no legal obligations arise for United Nations member states, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, with respect to the provisions and mechanisms of rescinded resolutions, and all states must refrain from recognizing this unlawful situation that is incompatible with Security Council Resolution 2231. Iran’s principled position on this matter was set out in an official letter dated September 27, 2025, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

It is worth recalling that over the past 2 decades the Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to dialogue and diplomacy to resolve issues raised concerning Iran’s peaceful nuclear program and has shown its readiness to find a reasonable and equitable solution that guarantees the rights and interests of the Iranian nation for peaceful uses of nuclear energy while at the same time providing the necessary transparency and assurance regarding the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities. In this vein, in addition to fully implementing the JCPOA provisions from 2015 to 2019 (i.e., until one year after the unlawful withdrawal of the United States), Iran structured its remedial measures pursuant to paragraphs 26 and 36 of the JCPOA from May 2019 in such a way that, should the European parties and the United States return to their JCPOA commitments, Iran could immediately resume its obligations.

Over the past 4 years, Iran has also put forward multiple initiatives and proposals to re-implement the JCPOA commitments by all parties, or to reach another negotiated understanding to resolve the issues raised regarding Iran’s nuclear program, all of which failed due to the lack of seriousness and absence of good faith on the part of the three European countries or the United States.

The military attacks by the Zionist regime and the United States on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the period 13–24 June 2025, and the 3 European countries’ alignment with the aggressors constituted the culmination of these 3 countries’ gross violations of their JCPOA obligations, accompanied by manifest bad faith. Undoubtedly, the criminal military aggression against Iran, which caused many Iranian citizens to be killed and injured and damaged nuclear facilities as well as some of the country’s vital infrastructure, in addition to the criminal responsibility of the perpetrators and those who ordered this crime, gives rise to international responsibility of the aggressor parties for the commission of internationally wrongful acts. The Islamic Republic of Iran will use all available means to try and punish the criminals and to seek compensation.

In the past two months, the Islamic Republic of Iran has made considerable efforts to prevent the 3 European countries from abusing the JCPOA dispute-resolution mechanism. Concluding an understanding with the International Atomic Energy Agency on September 9, 2025, and presenting useful and reasonable proposals in this area and on other matters related to Iran’s nuclear program are among these efforts, which did not succeed due to the indifference and excessive demands of the three European countries and the United States.

In fact, instead of creating the necessary space for diplomacy and engagement, the 3 European countries and the United States have chosen confrontation and crisis-making and are under the false impression that by resorting to the device of reviving rescinded Security Council resolutions, they will gain a new lever of pressure. The Islamic Republic of Iran will vigorously defend Iran’s national rights and interests, and any move to harm the interests and rights of the Iranian nation will be met with an appropriate and decisive response.