The civilized world has less than 3 weeks to inflict a crushing blow on the Iran/Russia war machine.
Russia has relied heavily on Iranian drones and drone technology since the earliest months of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thousands of civilians have been killed or injured in attacks by Iranian-made Shahed suicide drones, which deliberately target apartment buildings, schools, and other civilian infrastructure.
Now, France and the United Kingdom have a powerful but time-sensitive tool at their disposal to strike at the regime in Tehran: the snapback mechanism.
The snapback mechanism was created under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the Iran nuclear deal. It allows any of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council who signed the agreement (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the U.S.) to unilaterally reimpose all UN sanctions on Iran that were lifted after the deal. Once triggered, the measure initiates a 30-day review period, after which sanctions “snap back” automatically—no veto is possible, even by Russia or China.
When the U.S. withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, it lost its ability to activate this mechanism. Russia and China, both aligned with Iran, would never take such action. That leaves France or the UK as the only members with the power to trigger these sanctions—an action that would deal a devastating blow to Iran’s weapons production and energy exports, cutting off critical resources that fuel Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
The urgency is real: the snapback provision expires on October 18, 2025, ten years after the JCPOA was signed. To be effective, France or the UK would need to invoke it before the end of September. This is because Russia will assume the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council on October 1, giving Moscow procedural leverage to delay the process until after the mechanism expires.
Recognizing this narrow window, more than 120 French parliamentarians recently signed a letter urging President Emmanuel Macron to act immediately. Triggering snapback sanctions would send an unmistakable message to Tehran—and to the emerging China-Russia-Iran-North Korea bloc—that the West is no longer content to watch passively as these regimes wage war and mass atrocities.
The West has an opportunity to do far more than condemn Iran’s involvement in Ukraine: it can cripple Tehran’s ability to arm Russia’s military machine. The drones terrorizing Ukrainian skies are built with Iranian parts, launched with Iranian expertise, and paid for with Iranian oil profits.
Britain and France should not allow this chance to slip away. The snapback mechanism was designed for precisely this scenario: when diplomacy has failed, and Iran is openly breaking its commitments while fueling global instability. This is the moment for decisive leadership from Macron and Starmer—to impose real costs on the Iranian regime and strengthen Ukraine’s fight for survival.