Nick Schifrin:
It’s called a snapback because the idea is to snap back those sanctions that you just mentioned that were lifted on Iran back in the 2015 nuclear deal.
Of course, President Trump withdrew from the deal back in 2018, but Germany, France and the United Kingdom did not withdraw from the deal. And that gave them the ability today to send this letter about Iran that judges Iran — quote — “to be in significant nonperformance of its commitments under the nuclear deal.”
The Europeans say Iran, one, exceeded the caps on its uranium stockpile or nuclear fuel. That includes uranium enriched to 60 percent, one step below weapons-grade, that the Europeans said today — quote — “has no credible civilian justification.”
Number two, the letter also says Iran restarted prohibited enrichment, and it says Iran — quote — “ceased to allow nuclear inspectors from required verification monitoring to the extent that the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog is not able to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.”
In the last few days and weeks, Geoff, European officials made it very clear to Iran that they had to negotiate directly with the U.S., they had to allow inspectors all over the country, including those sites that the United States bombed just two months ago, and, three, Iran had to account for the 60 percent uranium that Iran and the U.S. say were buried in those sites.
But Iran did not take any of those steps. And, therefore, you get snapback today.
