US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that European countries must soon decide whether to trigger the snapback of sanctions on Iran, warning that Tehran is nearing nuclear weapons capability.
“Well for the Europeans they have an important decision to make very soon on the snapback of sanctions because Iran is clearly out of compliance with the current deal,” Rubio said.
“As you saw, the IAEA was in Tehran yesterday, uh, issued public statements saying Iran is as close as it's ever been to nuclear weapons,” he added.
“The president's made clear Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. That is not going to happen.”
“We're hoping that talks continue and that they're fruitful and that they can lead to something. We would all prefer a peaceful resolution and a lasting one,” Rubio said.
“It has to be something that actually not just prevents Iran from having a nuclear weapon now, but in the future as well — not just for 10 years with some sort of sunset provision or the like.”
“So we discussed that obviously because the Europeans, the E3, have a decision to make on snapback.”
“I believe we should all anticipate, based on the public comments yesterday, that they're about to get a report from the IAEA that says not just is Iran out of compliance, but Iran is dangerously close to a weapon — closer than they've ever been.”
“They're going to have to make a decision about whether they want to reimpose these sanctions. And, uh, you know, if Iran is out of compliance, they have to reimpose the sanctions.”
“So that's going to be a factor in all this. And that's why it was important we talked to them about it before our talks on Saturday.”
