Iran faces 'snapback' of sanctions over its nuclear program.

VIENNA

France, Britain and Germany have initiated the process of triggering the “snapback mechanism ” that automatically reimposes all United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, saying Iran has willfully departed from their 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures.

Under the snapback mechanism, the measures previously imposed by the U.N. Security Council in six resolutions between 2006 and 2010 will be reinstated.

These include an arms embargo, a prohibition on uranium enrichment and reprocessing and a ban on ballistic missile launches or related activities capable of delivering nuclear weapons, along with restrictions on the transfer of missile technology and technical assistance.

The measures also involve a targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on certain Iranian individuals and entities, as well as authorization for countries to inspect cargoes belonging to Iran Air Cargo and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines for prohibited goods.

This week, even before the process officially began, just the talk of it caused the Iranian rial to fall to record lows. With the sanctions coming into effect, economic conditions are expected to worsen further.

The European countries, known as the E3, offered Iran a delay of the snapback during talks in July if Iran met three conditions: Resuming negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program, allowing U.N. nuclear inspectors access to its nuclear sites, and accounting for the over 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium the U.N. watchdog says it has.

Tehran, which now enriches uranium at near weapons-grade levels, has rejected that proposal.

The U.S. and Iran tried to reach a new nuclear deal earlier this year, but those talks have not resumed since the 12-day Israeli bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites and the U.S. bombardment on June 22.

Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action reached between world powers and Iran in 2015, Iran agreed to limit uranium enrichment to levels necessary for civilian nuclear power in exchange for lifted economic sanctions.