Britain warns Iran sanctions could be reimposed as UN Security Council meets

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Britain warned on Wednesday that it would trigger a return of U.N. sanctions on Iran, if needed, to prevent it from getting a nuclear weapon as the Security Council met to discuss Tehran's expansion of its stock of uranium close to weapons grade.

Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.

However, it is "dramatically" accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the U.N. nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency - has warned.

Western states say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level under any civilian program and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

"We are clear that we will take any diplomatic measures to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, that includes the use of snapback (of sanctions), if needed," Britain's deputy U.N. Ambassador James Kariuki told reporters ahead of the meeting.

The closed-door meeting was called by six of the council's 15 members - the U.S., France, Greece, Panama, South Korea and Britain.

Iran's U.N. mission accused the United States of seeking to weaponize the U.N. Security Council "to escalate economic warfare against Iran," adding in a post on X: "This dangerous abuse must be rejected to protect the council's credibility."

The U.S. mission to the U.N. said in a statement after the council meeting that Iran was "the only country in the world without nuclear weapons producing highly enriched uranium, for which it has no credible peaceful purpose." 

It accused Iran of defying the Security Council and violating IAEA obligations, calling on the council to "be clear and united in addressing and condemning this brazen behavior."

'SEIZE THE LIMITED TIME'

U.S. President Donald Trump last month restored a "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran in a bid to stop Tehran from building a nuclear weapon. But he also said he was open to a deal and was willing to talk to Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Trump wrote a letter to Iran calling for nuclear talks, which was delivered on Wednesday, but Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected holding negotiations.

China will hold a meeting on Friday in Beijing with Russia and Iran on the Iranian "nuclear issue", its foreign ministry said, with both nations sending their deputy foreign ministers.

"We still hope that we can seize the limited time we have before the termination date in October this year, in order to have a deal, a new deal so that the JCPOA can be maintained," China's U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong told reporters ahead of the Security Council meeting.

"Putting maximum pressure on a certain country is not going to achieve the goal," he said.

Iran reached a deal in 2015 with Britain, Germany, France, the U.S., Russia and China - known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - that lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.

Washington quit the agreement in 2018 during Trump's first term as U.S. president, and Iran began moving away from its nuclear-related commitments.

Britain, France and Germany will lose the ability to trigger the so-called snap back of all international sanctions on Iran on October 18 when the 2015 U.N. resolution on the deal expires. Trump has directed his U.N. diplomats to work with allies to snap back international sanctions and restrictions on Iran.

Under the complex two-month JCPOA dispute resolution process, the European parties to the deal effectively have until early August to trigger a snapback of U.N. sanctions on Iran.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Diane Craft)