Interview with Eco Iran August 25, 2025 -
The interview was in Persian and the translation below was done by Ai.
According to Eco Iran, while the countdown to the activation of the trigger mechanism (snapback) has begun, Iran and the Troika agreed on August 21 to hold talks at the level of deputy foreign ministers on Tuesday - September 24.
Talks that can be called a formula to prevent the trigger from being activated in the 90th minute. However, despite this agreement, it is not clear whether Tehran and the three European capitals of Paris, London and Berlin will be able to reach a new framework and buy a few months to return to diplomacy and extend Resolution 2231.
The Associated Press also reported, citing an informed source, that in parallel with this phone call, officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency met with Iranian officials in Vienna.
In this regard, the EU foreign policy chief tweeted after the phone call on Friday: Europe is committed to a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue. As the deadline for the trigger mechanism approaches, Iran’s readiness to engage with the United States is crucial. Iran must also fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In this context, Sasan Karimi, a professor of international relations, discussed various aspects of Resolution 2231 and the conditions for activating the trigger mechanism in an interview with EcoIran.
Karimi initially stated: The term “trigger mechanism” does not exist in the JCPOA. Even the term “snapback” is not mentioned in the text of the agreement and is more of an expression to threaten the JCPOA. What has become famous is actually the “reversibility mechanism”; that is, a mechanism that returns the parties to the position before the JCPOA talks.
He continued: This is what exists in many other agreements and transactions. When the parties are not satisfied in the middle, they can return to the conditions before the agreement. Such a right is foreseen in both domestic and international law.
The professor of international relations emphasized: Resolution 2231 has specified a “Rubik” that includes several stages, the last of which is Termination Day, which occurs on October 16, 1404. According to this resolution, the six Security Council resolutions against Iran—five of which were under Chapter VII of the UN Charter and were adopted before 1993—that are now ineffective will be ineffective forever.
He continued: For October 16, which is the deadline, the restitution mechanism of this mechanism gives the parties the authority to return everything to the conditions before the JCPOA; That is, the same resolutions that were imposed on the country during the era of Mr. Jalili and Mr. Ahmadinejad will be re-enforced. But if Resolution 2231 expires, this will not be possible for other parties.
Referring to the roots of Iran’s economic challenges, he said: “Both before and after the revolution, the country’s commercial structure has been ambiguous. We have faced a combination of state economy in some sectors and private trade in others, which in some cases have become conflicting and contradictory. Therefore, not all problems can be attributed solely to foreign policy or its bottlenecks.”
Karimi described the Europeans’ solutions from their own perspective as follows:
1. Activating this mechanism at this point and exposing Iran to the return of sanctions.
2. Allowing the resolution to expire and all six previous resolutions to disappear.
Each party is actually pressuring the other party by threatening to choose its own path.
He explained: The middle way that the Europeans have proposed is to extend this deadline; they have proposed a 6-month extension. But Iran has not accepted this issue so far. In the previous round of negotiations, three European countries also made this proposal, but Iran rejected it. Mr. Larijani also emphasized this rejection in his interviews. Of course, Mr. Araqchi, while opposing it, postponed the issue to internal consultations.
Regarding Iran's behavior in the event of an automatic return of sanctions, this international expert said: "If these sanctions are automatically returned, Iran's reaction will depend on the decisions of the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council. These decisions can range from legal measures to withdrawing from the NPT treaty, or even preventing the entry of Agency inspectors."
He believes: From a security, political and legal perspective, the issue of the return of sanctions is considered important for Iran. But from a diplomatic perspective, cooperation with Russia, China and neighboring countries will also be on Iran's agenda. It seems that while Iran will increase the level of tension, it will not completely close the path of diplomacy so that there is a possibility of reaching a common ground with Europe.
Karimi stated: The Europeans are trying to show their “good faith” by proposing again to extend the deadline for the reversibility mechanism. However, we do not care about such good faith, because basically this action is not legally legitimate, although it may be possible from a technical or mechanical perspective.
He concluded by emphasizing: The fact is that diplomacy will not end for Iran, but nuclear diplomacy with Europe will end on the day this mechanism is activated. That day will be the day of the end of any role for Europe in the equations of the JCPOA and Iran’s nuclear issues. This is what is bothering the Europeans now, because they have been largely excluded from important international equations, especially by the United States.
Eco Iran Link
