France says door ‘remains open’ for diplomacy ahead of Iran sanctions snapback

France, Germany and Britain have said they are willing to reimpose crushing sanctions against Tehran within 30 days.

By Nicholas Vinocur

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Saturday that Paris remains open to talks with Iran to avoid the reimposition of far-reaching sanctions if Tehran is willing to take concrete steps immediately.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom notified the United Nations on Friday that crushing global sanctions against Iran which were lifted a decade ago would now snap back within 30 days due to the Iranian government's unwillingness to cooperate with the international community on its nuclear program.

Reiterating France's commitment to reimpose the sanctions, Barrot nonetheless left the door open to further talks.

"What happens now?" he said. "A 30-day period opens at the end of which sanctions can be applied. Then European sanctions could also be applied — unless of course Iran agrees within this 30-day period to take the actions which we have been very clearly asking of it," Barrot said.

"The door of diplomacy remains open," he added.