UN’s Big “No” to U.S. Efforts to Return Iran Sanctions
IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK
TEHRAN – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Saturday he cannot take any action on a U.S. declaration that all U.N. sanctions on Iran had been reimposed because “there would appear to be uncertainty” on the issue.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month that he triggered a 30-day process at the council leading to the return of U.N. sanctions on Iran on Saturday evening that would also stop a conventional arms embargo on Tehran from expiring on Oct. 18.
But 13 of the 15 Security Council members say Washington’s move is void because Pompeo used a mechanism agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which the United States quit in 2018.
“There would appear to be uncertainty whether or not the process … was indeed initiated and concomitantly whether or not the (sanctions) terminations … continue in effect,” Guterres wrote in a letter to the council, seen by Reuters.
“It is not for the Secretary-General to proceed as if no such uncertainty exists,” he said.
U.N. officials provide administrative and technical support to the Security Council to implement its sanctions regimes and Guterres appoints independent experts to monitor implementation. He said that “pending clarification” of the status of the Iran sanctions, he would not take any action to provide that support.
Meanwhile Iran in a statement rejected the United States’ claim that international sanctions against the Islamic Republic are back in force, warning that it will show a serious reaction if Washington or its regional cronies make any move in line with its anti-Iran threats.
What follows is the full text of the statement released on Sunday, September 20, 2020:
The United States falsely claims that the UN Security Council sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran are back in effect at a time when the Council has basically rejected a demand by the US, as a non-signatory to the JCPOA, to trigger the trend of reinstating the sanctions. Moreover, such a trend never got started in the first place to produce a result today. The US secretary of state himself knows well that his claim regarding the reinstatement of UN Security Council sanctions is groundless and invalid and lacks any legal effect. Therefore, he, using his own notorious method, tries to intimidate other countries by threatening to slap international sanctions on them, which is the best testament to the United States’ admission of failure in its effort at the UN Security Council.
As the Islamic Republic of Iran has reiterated time and again, the US regime is the biggest threat to world peace and security. This reality had never been exposed as much it has today when the US is overtly threatening and intimidating the world and ignores UN Security Council resolutions.
In 2018, when the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in breach of clearly stipulated international regulations, and waived any right to use the mechanisms inserted in the accord and in Resolution 2231, it (the US) hoped it would bring Iran to the dilemma of submission or collapse by using the so-called ‘maximum pressure’ strategy.
However, two years on since then, the US is now more isolated than ever in advancing the project of portraying Iran as a security threat. Frustrated at having failed to build a consensus against Iran, the US has turned to bullying and holding the international community to ransom. At a time when almost all members of the UN Security Council have straightforwardly rejected the United States’ ludicrous approach vis-à-vis UN Security Council Resolution 2231, the US regime is, in line with its unilateral and force-oriented policy, threatening to impose sanctions against world countries for their compliance with international regulations.
The Islamic Republic of Iran regards the US secretary of state’s wrathful statements as measures which are only good for domestic political use and which are the result of weakness and disappointment and hearing repeated “No’s” from the international community in recent months as well as back-to-back defeats against Iran’s active diplomacy. Iran recommends the US president not isolate himself and his country at the international level any further by consulting people who are unfamiliar with the global situation.
The approach adopted by the current U.S. regime amounts to a big danger to international peace and security as well as an unprecedented threat to the UN and the Security Council. This time, the US secretary of state has not only ridiculed all principles of international law and the UN Charter, but also challenges the international community officially and openly, and converts his government’s bullying and recalcitrance from behind-the-scenes actions into an openly flagrant move.
The Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes that if the US makes any move in line with these threats, whether alone or in cahoots with the few cronies of its own, it will be met with serious reaction and will be responsible for all the dangerous consequences of its move.
