Iran to UN: 2015 Nuclear Deal Resolution ‘Definitively Terminated’

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a defiant and legally charged declaration that solidifies its collision course with the West, Iran has formally notified the United Nations that Security Council Resolution 2231, the very resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal, has "definitively expired and terminated" as of October 18, 2025.

In a letter to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi asserted that the recent European-led effort to "snap back" a raft of previous international sanctions is "procedurally flawed and substantively invalid."

Tehran's position, detailed in the letter released by the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), is that any claim of reviving or restoring the terminated UN resolutions against it is "null and void, lacks legal basis, and is incapable of creating a binding effect," setting the stage for a profound international legal and diplomatic crisis.

"Any claim of 'revival' or 'restoration' of terminated resolutions is null and void, lacks legal basis, and is incapable of creating a binding effect," Araghchi stated.

The letter represents Iran's most formal and comprehensive rejection of the sanctions snapback, a process initiated by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (the E3) on August 28, 2025. This move culminated in the official reimposition of a stringent sanctions regime on September 28, targeting nearly every aspect of Iran's strategic programs.

Araghchi's correspondence to the UN lays out Tehran's case, arguing that the international community is witnessing a flagrant abuse of the very diplomatic architecture created a decade ago. "Ten years ago, the 'Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action' (JCPOA) became effective with the endorsement of Resolution 2231 (2015); an event that reflected the shared belief of the international community in the fact that diplomacy and multilateral engagement are the most effective means of resolving disputes," the letter began.

Araghchi's letter places the blame for the collapse of the landmark agreement squarely on the United States and its European allies. It recounts the U.S.'s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018, and the subsequent reinstatement and expansion of "illegal, unilateral, and extraterritorial sanctions," which it described as a "flagrant violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations."

The letter then turns its fire on the European parties, accusing them of a "material breach" of the JCPOA. "The European parties to the JCPOA, namely France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, despite their initial commitment to preserving the agreement and compensating for the effects of the US withdrawal, not only failed to fulfill their commitments, but also imposed additional illegal sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities," the letter stated.

Iran contends that it exercised "utmost restraint" for a full year after the U.S. withdrawal before beginning its own "phased, proportionate, and reversible remedial measures" in May 2019, which involved incrementally breaching the nuclear deal's limits on enrichment and stockpiles.

The Iranian Foreign Minister argued that Tehran’s good-faith efforts to find a diplomatic solution were consistently met with obstruction and sabotage, including what it called "acts of sabotage and aggression against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities under safeguards," a clear reference to the devastating U.S. and Israeli military strikes that pummeled its nuclear infrastructure in June 2025.

From Tehran's perspective, the E3's decision to trigger the snapback mechanism was the culmination of this bad faith. The letter argues that the E3, "without any legitimate, legal, procedural, or political justification, unilaterally and arbitrarily tried to bypass the dispute resolution process stipulated in the JCPOA" to activate the snapback.

The European powers, however, have presented a starkly different narrative. In a joint statement released on August 28 when they initiated the process, the foreign ministers of Britain, Germany, and France declared that Iran's non-compliance with the 2015 deal was "clear and deliberate."

Citing Tehran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, for which they said Iran has "no civilian justification," they concluded that its nuclear program "remains a clear threat to international peace and security," as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The United States immediately welcomed the European move. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the E3's leadership, stating it was a clear response to Tehran's "significant non-performance" of its commitments and pledged that Washington would work closely with its partners to ensure the snapback was fully implemented.

In its letter, Iran counters that the snapback process was illegitimate from the start, pointing to two voting sessions in the UN Security Council on September 19 and 26, 2025, which it says "clearly showed the lack of consensus among the council members regarding the validity of the notification."

Iran insists that just as the Security Council rejected a U.S. attempt to trigger snapback in 2020 on the grounds that it was no longer a participant in the JCPOA, the European notification is equally "devoid of any legal basis and effect."

Bolstering its position, Iran cited the final document from the 19th Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Uganda, where 121 member states emphasized the importance of respecting the provisions and timelines of Resolution 2231, including its termination clause.

This high-stakes diplomatic and legal battle is unfolding against the backdrop of a deeply volatile security situation and a crippled Iranian economy. The E3's move to reimpose sanctions came just over two months after the end of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, which Israel claimed was aimed at degrading Tehran's nuclear and ballistic capabilities.

In a previous statement from September 28, Iran's Foreign Ministry explicitly accused the E3 of "explicitly or implicitly supporting the military aggression of the Zionist regime and the United States against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities" during that conflict.

While Iran fights the sanctions regime with legal arguments at the UN, on the ground it is taking concrete steps to protect and rebuild its nuclear program. In the wake of the June strikes, which according to a report from the Institute for Science and International Security destroyed or rendered inoperable all of Iran's nearly 22,000 centrifuges, Tehran has accelerated construction at a mysterious and deeply buried underground complex known as "Pickaxe Mountain."

A comprehensive review of satellite imagery by The Washington Post revealed increased activity at the heavily fortified site, located near the damaged Natanz nuclear complex. Experts estimate the facility's halls are being carved up to 330 feet underground, potentially deeper than the Fordow enrichment site, which was a key target of massive U.S. earth-penetrating bombs.

This has fueled speculation that the site could be intended as a new, covert uranium enrichment facility, beyond the reach of both bombs and international inspectors.

The fate of Iran's pre-strike stockpile of nearly 900 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity—a short technical step from weapons-grade—remains a critical and unanswered question, further complicating the international standoff. The heightened activity at Pickaxe Mountain, combined with Iran's defiant diplomatic posture, suggests a dual strategy: hardening its nuclear ambitions physically while challenging the legal foundations of international pressure.

Iran's letter to the UN also firmly rejects any authority of the UN Secretary-General or the Secretariat to implement the reimposed sanctions, warning that any such action would be "outside the scope of the legal authority stipulated in the Charter" and would "undermine the institutional credibility of the United Nations."

The crucial question now is one of enforcement. It remains to be seen whether key countries like China and Russia, which have also deemed the snapback illegal, will comply with the restored UN sanctions. China has remained a significant buyer of Iranian oil despite U.S. sanctions, and Russia has forged a closer military partnership with Tehran.

In a clear sign of this strategic realignment, Iran announced a $25 billion deal with Russia's Rosatom to construct four new nuclear power plants just as the UN sanctions were set to take effect.

For the Iranian people, the diplomatic war has dire consequences. An Associated Press report from Dubai, cited by Kurdistan24, described a nation that is "hungrier, poorer and more anxious," with its currency at a record low and the cost of essential goods skyrocketing.

This economic misery is compounded by a harsh domestic crackdown, with human rights groups reporting a terrifying surge in executions in 2025. With last-ditch diplomatic efforts at the UN in September failing and Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, having previously described diplomacy with the U.S. as a "sheer dead end," Tehran has drawn its line in the sand. The letter to the Security Council is an unambiguous declaration that Iran considers itself free from the constraints of a deal it believes the West abandoned long ago, and that it will not bow to what it sees as an illegal campaign of coercion.