French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Friday that any attempt to lift international sanctions on Iran would require Paris' approval, by virtue of France's status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
"There will be no lifting of UN sanctions against Iran without France's consent," Barrot said in an interview with franceinfo radio.
Barrot explained that France would be "inevitably involved" in the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program between the US and Iran, similar to the role it played a decade ago in the talks that led to the 2015 nuclear agreement.
"The far-reaching concessions we expected from Iran will be obtained in exchange for the lifting of sanctions that we imposed on Iran," he said. "Therefore, France will have to, as it did a decade ago, give its consent, its approval, for the sanctions to be lifted."
About a year ago, Britain, France and Germany, the three countries known as the E3, triggered the "snapback" mechanism enshrined in UN Security Council Resolution 2231, the same resolution that endorsed the nuclear agreement signed with Iran in 2015. The mechanism allowed the automatic reimposition of the UN Security Council sanctions package against Iran, with no possibility of a veto by Russia or China.
On Sept. 28, 2025, the sanctions came back into force, including restrictions on Iran's nuclear and missile programs and on the transfer of weapons to and from Iran. Any lifting of those sanctions as part of the emerging agreement between the US and Iran will now require a new Security Council resolution, which France, as a permanent member, has the power to veto.
Asked whether Iran's proposal to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium, meaning to reduce the enrichment level of the material, with it still unclear whether the dilution would take place on Iranian soil or outside the country, constituted a sufficient concession from Paris' perspective, Barrot said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action included a much stricter monitoring mechanism, without clarifying France's position on any future Security Council vote.
"If I had to summarize what we did a decade ago, it was to force Iran not only to drastically reduce its uranium stockpile, but also to very severely limit the enrichment capabilities available to the Iranian regime. In addition, extremely stringent oversight obligations were imposed," he said.
Barrot also addressed Iran's ballistic missile program and its support for terrorist organizations in the region.
"For Iran and its regime to stop being a source of instability, a threat to its surroundings, it is essential that not only the nuclear program be addressed through very strict restrictions that must be imposed on it, but also its missile program, which threatens not only the region but, when it comes to long-range missiles, the European continent as well," he said.
"In addition, there is also the support that this regime has been providing for far too long to terrorist organizations that destabilize the region. We know them well: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis. Without these problems being resolved, unfortunately, with an agreement or without an agreement, with negotiations or without negotiations, in Switzerland or not in Switzerland, the instability will continue," he added.
