{"id":337748,"date":"2025-10-01T10:08:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T09:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=337748"},"modified":"2025-10-01T10:08:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T09:08:23","slug":"editorial-snapback-is-here-ten-years-one-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/editorial\/editorial-snapback-is-here-ten-years-one-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Snapback Is Here. Ten Years, One Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"
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United Nations Security Council voting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On September 28, 2025, the UN \u201csnapback\u201d mechanism took effect, re-imposing all UN sanctions suspended under the 2015 nuclear deal. In plain terms: Iran again faces sanctions adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, including a renewed arms embargo and restrictions tied to ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n

That calendar milestone is more than a legal reset. It\u2019s a strategic inflection point in a contest spanning two decades\u2014between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people, and between appeasement and a principled policy long urged by the democratic opposition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What snapback validates<\/h2>\n

First, appeasement failed.<\/strong> As Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the NCRI has warned for years, concessions don\u2019t moderate Tehran; they incentivize aggression<\/em>. Her message to lawmakers in Europe captured the lesson crisply: giving the regime breathing room \u201conly serves to intensify tensions rather than ease them\u201d and must be replaced with firm measures\u2014designating the IRGC, activating snapback, and placing the regime under Chapter VII. Snapback\u2019s return is a belated recognition of that logic.<\/p>\n

Second, facts\u2014not wishful thinking\u2014got us here.<\/strong> The crisis began with opposition-led disclosures, notably the August 2002 revelation<\/a> of Natanz and Arak, which forced international inspections and rewrote the world\u2019s understanding of Tehran\u2019s program. Multiple independent accounts record that the NCRI\/MEK\u2019s press conference in Washington put those clandestine sites on the map and pressed the IAEA and capitals into action.<\/p>\n

Third, the case for a policy pivot is overwhelming.<\/strong> The E3 themselves stressed that re-imposed UN sanctions are not the end of diplomacy\u2014but they are the end of illusions. The question is what diplomacy is for<\/em>. A decade of \u201cbehavior change\u201d hopes has left Iran\u2019s rulers more repressive at home and more adventurous abroad, exactly as Mrs. Rajavi and the Iranian Resistance repeatedly predicted.<\/p>\n

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NCRI has long warned about the #Iranian<\/a> regime\u2019s secret nuclear weaponization. Since 2004, it has exposed METFAZ's role in explosive chambers at Parchin. Decades later, METFAZ remains central to #Tehran<\/a>'s nuclear ambitionshttps:\/\/t.co\/EiJenArCtm<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/3z7ZiPGfWB<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n