Washington

As IAEA officials get set to go to Teheran for talks on its nuclear activities, the United States accused UNSC members Britain and France of "abdicating their duty" to maintain an arms embargo and impose broader sanctions on the Islamic state.

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"Iran is in violation of its voluntary nuclear commitments. The conditions have been met to initiate snapback. We don't need anybody's permission to initiate snapback," Brian Hook, the State Department's Special Representative for Iran, said.

The "snapback" clause aims to restore all international sanctions against Iran that were lifted as part of the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and the rest of the world powers.

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Iran has criticised Trump administration's move to activate the snapback mechanism. 

"Iran expects the Secretary-General and member states of the Security Council to fulfil their legal obligations, to counter rogue behaviour by the US administration," Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif told UN chief Antonio Guterres even as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo submitted a letter to the UNSC accusing Iran of "significant" non-compliance with the terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Zarif said since the United States is not a part of the nuclear agreement, therefore, Washington's decision had "no foundation".

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"China and Russia and France and the United Kingdom decided to ignore the views of the Gulf Cooperation Council," Hook said.

"These are the countries that are closest to the danger, and the Council had a responsibility to respect their views to extend the arms embargo," Hook said, adding, "it was a very disappointing abdication of duty."

Earlier, France, Britain and Germany had the rejected use of the snapback mechanism, calling it "incompatible with our current efforts to support the JCPOA."