London: Iran’s Ambassador to Britain Ali Mousavi called the activation of the snapback mechanism illegal and met with the British Minister for the Middle East and North Africa on Tuesday to discuss the move by Britain, France and Germany to trigger the mechanism.

According to Islamic Republic News Agency, Mousavi and the British minister discussed the triggering of the snapback by Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, and Mousavi reiterated Iran’s position, shared by China and Russia, that the measure is illegal. Both sides stressed the importance of diplomacy and reaching a negotiated solution and exchanged views on a range of bilateral issues.

In 2015 Iran reached an agreement with five members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – along with Germany. The accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aimed to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions under United Nations resolutions.

In 2018 then-US President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA. After Washington’s exit the European signatories referred to as the E3 did not uphold commitments, and Iran began to scale back its compliance after one year.

On August 28 the E3 submitted a notification to the UN Security Council to trigger the Dispute Resolution Mechanism, also called the Snapback Mechanism, seeking to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under Resolution 2231, the resolution that endorsed the JCPOA.

The move provoked reaction from Iranian, Chinese and Russian officials.