HAMILTON, Canada

Russia accused European countries on Thursday of acting “in breach” of an Iranian nuclear deal as France, Germany and the UK recently announced a "snapback" mechanism that could reinstate international sanctions on Iran.

"About an hour ago, Russia and China put into a blue draft a Security Council Resolution," Russian charge d'affaires to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said at a news conference at UN headquarters in New York.

The draft "technically extends for six months till 18 April, 2026, the 10-year term after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) adoption day," he said.

Criticizing France, the UK and Germany for triggering the "snapback" mechanism, he said: "This move by European countries, in our view, has absolutely no legal bearing because they were not implementing Resolution 2231 in good faith. They are acting absolutely in breach of JCPOA in each and every sense and letter and spirit of this document," referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the nuclear deal.

"We do not think that this move by these three countries should entail any action from the Council. This is our very strong and principled conviction," he added.

He noted Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear power plants, and urged countries to "not confuse the real source of the problem that happened."

Polyanskiy stressed that an alternative Russia-China draft offers a path for diplomacy and peace, noting that Russia believes "in peace, we believe in diplomacy."

"The option that Russia and China are now providing for the whole world should lead us to this aim without further problems," he added.

Describing the approach by Western countries as coercive, he said: "Make no mistake, our move is not linked to snapback."

He accused the E3 countries -- France, the UK and Germany -- of caring "only about blackmail and threats and coercion of independent countries."

Expressing disappointment with the European nations, he said: "Because we believe that we are dealing with serious people with serious intention, and it looks like that we are dealing with some kind of, I don't know, gangsters."

The E3 announced Thursday it notified the Security Council of Iran’s “significant non-performance” under the 2015 nuclear deal, triggering a 30-day period before the possible reestablishment of previously terminated UN Security Council resolutions.

The European countries have urged Iran to resume negotiations with the US about its nuclear program and allow international inspectors to monitor sites and stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.

The US left the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and re-imposed its own sanctions on Iran.

Earlier this year, it entered indirect nuclear talks with Iran, but Israel attacked Iran in June, and a sixth round of talks in Oman was canceled.

The 12-day war also saw the US bomb three Iranian nuclear sites.

The US has maintained that Iran must give up its nuclear program, but Tehran argues its program is only for civilian purposes.