TEHRAN – Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has issued a stark warning to the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, cautioning that their ongoing efforts to revive UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran could lead to "irreparable damage."

In a message posted Saturday on X, formerly Twitter, Araghchi addressed the European trio—known as the E3—who, along with Iran, signed the 2015 nuclear agreement. The three governments are reportedly pressing to trigger the deal’s “snapback” mechanism, which would restore sanctions lifted under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Araghchi argued that the Europeans have “no legal, political, or moral entitlement” to activate the mechanism, given their failure to uphold their own obligations under the nuclear accord. Both Iran and its partners, Russia and China, have long maintained that the E3’s violation of the agreement, including the re-imposition of sanctions, invalidates any claim they might have to invoke snapback.

The foreign minister also mocked the logic behind the E3’s approach. “It is not just that the E3 has no entitlement to invoke snapback, and that even if they did, ‘use or lose it’ doesn’t work,” he wrote. “It’s that the correct expression for the E3’s dilemma is ‘use it and lose it.’ Or better yet, ‘use it and lose it all.’”

Tehran has repeatedly warned that any successful attempt by the Europeans to reinstate sanctions would trigger far-reaching retaliatory steps. These could include scrapping a recently negotiated agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) aimed at reviving cooperation, or even withdrawing altogether from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

On Saturday, Araghchi presented details of the IAEA agreement during an extraordinary session with the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. After the meeting, the committee’s chairman, Ebrahim Azizi, told reporters that withdrawal from the NPT remained on the table if European governments pressed ahead with their snapback bid.

Azizi, however, stressed that Tehran still prefers a diplomatic outcome. “If the Europeans and the agency fulfill their commitments, it has been agreed that under this same agreement the snapback issue will be set aside—unless the Europeans renege on their pledges or the agency fails to meet its obligations,” he said.

Iran’s warning comes amid escalating tensions over the fate of the nuclear deal, with Tehran insisting that any further provocation by the E3 could dismantle what remains of the JCPOA framework and plunge the diplomatic process into crisis.