IRAN’S SNAPBACK THREAT MUST BE CONFRONTED

The reimposition of UN snapback sanctions on Iran has stripped away the last vestiges of pretence. Tehran’s theocratic regime, faced with renewed international pressure, has responded with the only language it knows, threats, aggression and defiance. Far from backing down, the ayatollahs are doubling down, brandishing their missile arsenal, flexing their naval muscle, and openly threatening to tear up the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Army, was quick to crow about the regime’s readiness for “any potential future conflict.” His boast comes only months after the 12-day war with Israel, when Tehran fired hundreds of missiles across the region. That brutal exchange, ended only after American intervention, revealed how dangerously close we stand to all-out war. Instead of drawing lessons from that catastrophe, Iran has chosen escalation.

Now the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) speak openly of extending their missile range beyond the current 2,000 km limit. That is not just sabre-rattling; it is a direct threat to Europe. From bases deep inside Iran, their missiles could reach Rome, Paris, Berlin and beyond. These are not defensive postures; they are offensive threats designed to terrorise the West into appeasement.

At the same time, members of the Majlis (parliament) in Tehran openly discuss quitting the NPT altogether, a move that would rip away the last fig-leaf of accountability over their nuclear program. Despite years of denials, no one seriously believes the mullahs are enriching uranium for medical isotopes or peaceful energy. Their clandestine program is designed to build the bomb. And they will not stop until they succeed.

For decades, Iran has waged war in the shadows, through Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Shi’ite militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen. Now, with the snapback sanctions reinstated, Tehran is desperate to project strength. Former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei even admits that the “war is already ongoing”, a mixture of sanctions, propaganda and hybrid warfare. This is how the regime operates: it bleeds its neighbours, blames the West, and then tightens its grip on its own people through repression and poverty.

That repression at home is as chilling as Iran’s aggression abroad. In the wake of recent uprisings, particularly by young people and women demanding freedom, the regime has doubled down on brutality. Protesters are met with bullets, batons and prison cells. The internet is throttled, controlled, and censored to choke off dissent. Arbitrary arrests are soaring, and executions have hit record levels, as the ayatollahs use the gallows to instil fear in a restless population. The same regime that fires missiles at Israel executes teenagers for demanding liberty. This is not strength; it is the desperation of a dictatorship terrified of its own people.

President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi peddle the same tired propaganda, claiming America and Europe are to blame for the collapse of negotiations. Yet it was Iran that broke its commitments, Iran that obstructed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections, and Iran that accelerated enrichment far beyond civilian use. Their lies should fool no one.

Nor should Europe ignore Iran’s toxic role beyond the Middle East. Iranian drones have become a key weapon in Vladimir Putin’s brutal war on Ukraine. The kamikaze drones raining down on Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv are designed and supplied by Tehran. Every time they strike Ukrainian cities, Iranian fingerprints are all over the devastation. Iran is not just a regional menace; it is now a direct accomplice in Russia’s attempt to redraw Europe’s borders by force.

The world must finally face the truth. This is a regime that thrives on crisis, that cannot coexist peacefully with its neighbours, and that will exploit weakness wherever it finds it. Snapback sanctions are not enough on their own. They must be enforced rigorously, backed by a unified Western resolve to confront Iran’s aggression at sea, in the air, and on the ground. Half measures will not suffice.

We stand at a crossroads. Either the West draws a red line that Tehran dares not cross, or we will drift inexorably into another devastating Middle East war, this one with nuclear stakes. The ayatollahs believe the international community lacks the will to act. It is time to prove them wrong.

And here the responsibility lies squarely with London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels. Europe must stop hiding behind empty rhetoric and start matching American resolve with its own. The EU must end its appeasement and finally recognise that the Iranian regime is one of the greatest threats to peace and security in the 21st century. With every drone launched against Ukrainian civilians, every missile aimed at Israel, every dissident executed on the scaffold, and every step towards a nuclear weapon, Tehran is signalling its intentions. Failure to act with courage and clarity now will condemn us to pay a far higher price later.