US, European allies agree August deadline for Iran nuclear deal

U.S. media reported Tuesday that the United States and its three European allies have set an end-of-August deadline for reaching a nuclear deal with Iran.

According to the report, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of the U.K., France and Germany agreed the deadline in a phone call on Monday.

If no deal is reached by that deadline, the three European powers plan to trigger the 'snapback' mechanism that automatically reimposes all UN Security Council sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 Iran deal, according to the report.

The snapback provision is set to expire in October, with the activation process taking 30 days. European powers reportedly aim to complete this process before Russia assumes the presidency of the UN Security Council in October, said the report.

The report added that while U.S. and European allies consider the snapback threat as a bargaining chip, Iran argued that there is no legal basis for it and has threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in response.