Germany has told its nationals to leave Iran and refrain from traveling there to avoid getting caught in retaliatory acts by Tehran over Germany's role in triggering UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
Britain, France, and Germany on Thursday launched a 30-day process to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, a step likely to stoke tensions two months after Israel and the United States bombed Iran.
"As Iranian government representatives have repeatedly threatened with consequences in this case, it cannot be ruled out that German interests and nationals will be affected by countermeasures in Iran," the foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday.
"Currently, the German Embassy in Tehran can only provide limited consular assistance on site," it warned.
Snapback on Iran
The "snapback" is a mechanism built into the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal that allows any of the parties to the deal to automatically bring back full global sanctions on Tehran if they view it as materially violating the deal, with Russia and China lacking their standard UN-style veto power.
The E3's decision follows two months of negotiations since the June war between Israel and Iran, in which the Israeli and American air forces set back the Islamic Republic's nuclear program by around two years.
There is still time for Khamenei to make concessions, as if he reaches a new comprehensive nuclear deal or an interim agreement to postpone the showdown within 30 days, the snapback will not actually take effect.
Iran agreeing to extend the expiration of the snapback beyond October 18 remains the most likely outcome in the next 30 days, which would allow the E3 to give Tehran more time to negotiate.