Iran has until the end of August to agree to a nuclear deal with the United States and its allies, Fox News has learned.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom set the de facto deadline, according to three sources with knowledge of a call Wednesday among the officials.
If Tehran fails to agree to a deal, it would trigger the ‘snapback’ mechanism that automatically reimposes all sanctions previously imposed by the United Nations Security Council.
The sanctions were lifted under the 2015 Iran deal.
The Trump administration has tried pressuring Iran to accept a deal to walk back its nuclear program after U.S. and Israeli strikes targeting nuclear sites.
United Against Nuclear Iran, a nonprofit that opposes Tehran’s effort to develop a nuclear weapon, applauded Wednesday’s news.
‘Tehran has learned that, for the Trump administration, a deadline means a deadline,’ UANI Chairman and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace said in a joint statement.
‘After failing to agree to a deal within 60 days of diplomacy, the United States and Israel undertook targeted military action against the regime in June. Consequently, Tehran should take this new deadline seriously.’
On Monday, Iran warned it would retaliate if the U.N. Security Council imposes the snapback sanctions.
‘The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from the Islamic Republic of Iran,’ Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei claimed during a press conference, according to a Reuters report.
Baghaei didn’t specify how Tehran would retaliate.