France, Britain and Germany on Thursday triggered a mechanism to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran for failing to comply with commitments over its nuclear programme it agreed to a decade ago.

Iran warned that it would "respond appropriately" to the move, which risks drawing a curtain on the most sustained diplomatic push for a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.

The United States welcomed the step, while emphasising it was ready for "direct engagement" with the Islamic republic with which Washington has had no diplomatic relations since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany said they "hereby invoke the process known as the 'snapback' mechanism," which initiates a 30-day process for reimposing sanctions suspended a decade ago.

The three countries notified the UN Security Council that they "believe Iran to be in significant non-performance of its commitments" under the 2015 nuclear deal, according to a letter seen by AFP.

The move comes just over two months after the end of a 12-day war between Israel and Iran which Israel said was aimed at degrading Tehran's nuclear as well as ballistic capabilities and also saw the US launch its........

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