In recent years people in the world have witnessed and believed that the UN is losing its effectiveness when it comes to react to the world powers’ offences and in support of the weaker parties. There are several cases whereint the UN has shown the world that it is unable to take a fair action.

The International Court of Justice is one of the crucial arms of the UN for spreading justice in the world but its verdicts are ignored by the offenders and it has turned into a toothless tool. The best example regarding to the toothless of the ICJ is its verdicts against the U.S. in a case lodged by the Islamic Republic of Iran. On Thursday, Iran criticized the UN and the ICJ for its passiveness regarding its verdict against the U.S.

Iran’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations said that the U.S. administration continues to disregard orders issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which have been handed down in cases filed by Iran against US and vice versa.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi made the remarks in an address to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, emphasizing that Iran acknowledges “the vital role of the ICJ in the prevention of hostilities and mitigation of crises through peaceful settlement of disputes as well as in strengthening the rule of law, preserving international order and tackling unilateral measures.”

“Due to adoption of a number of legislative and executive acts in the United States in flagrant violation of international law, the immunity of states and their properties from suit before U.S. courts as well as immunity from jurisdiction and enforcement have been removed against Iran,” he added.

Takht-Ravanchi noted that as a result of the filing of cases in the U.S. courts against Iran as well as its officials and the Central Bank (CBI), “the assets of the CBI have been subjected to execution in order to satisfy a default judgment.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that such asset blocking and enforcement proceedings against the CBI and certain Iranian companies and banks in the U.S. is in violation of provisions of ‘Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights of 1955’ between the two countries,” Iran’s UN envoy said.

Takht-Ravanchi said following the unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the unlawful re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran, Iran filed an application instituting proceedings against the U.S. with regard to violations of multiple provisions of the Treaty of Amity.

He said on October 3, 2018, the ICJ issued an order unanimously requiring the U.S. to remove any impediments on the importation of foodstuffs as well as medicines and medical devices to Iran and also ordered Washington to ensure that the licenses and necessary authorizations are granted and that payments and other transfers of funds are not subject to any restriction in so far as they relate to the aforementioned goods and services.

“Regrettably, the United States has not only failed to comply with the Court’s Order but, by imposing new sanctions, especially during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, has also deliberately defied that Order,” Takht-Ravanchi said.

Iran, he noted, has on several occasions brought the U.S. non-compliance with the Order to the Court’s attention and the answer provided by the U.S. in this regard has always been a repetition of its previous contentions; that humanitarian transactions are exempt from its sanctions.

However, Takht-Ravanchi added, “through tightening the grip of sanctions after the Court’s Order, the U.S. … violated this Order which requires that ‘Both parties shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve’.”

Tehran has on multiple occasions called on the United Nations court to order the immediate lifting of the sanctions, and demanded compensation for damages incurred in their wake.

In fact Takht-Ravanchi’s remarks show that the U.S. only follows the law of the jungle and the thesis of the might is right and the UN’s order is something which is easily ignored by the U.S. or is vetoed by this arrogant country.

If the UN and its arms are to be trusted by the world, it should be powerful enough to bring any offender to the court and punish it, and it should not let big powers dodge punishment because of their power and veto powers.

If this international body functions ineffectively and passively, it will have the same fate that its predecessor, the League of Nations, faced in 1946 when it stopped operations and the UN replaced it.

So cases like the U.S. and Israel’s offences are the best chances for the UN to show it is an international body that everyone can trust it or else, it should not expect nations to respect and carry out its decisions because this approach promotes the law of the jungle in the world and unfortunately it is a truth that law of the jungle is gradually dominating the world unless the UN shows its real nature of backing justice and peace in the world.

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Addressing the general debate of the second committee of the UN General Assembly, Majid Takht Ravanchi said the U.S. illegitimate unilateral coercive measures, including the imposition of illegal unilateral sanctions on developing countries, as well as the international community’s inaction have turned the pivotal ideal of sustainable development, namely “no one should be left behind”, into a purely decorative, absurd and meaningless claim.

What follows is the text of his speech posted on the Tasnim website:

My delegation would like to align itself with the statement delivered by the delegation of the Republic of Guinea on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

Madam Chair,
Covid-19 remains to be a wake-up call for the whole world, reminding us once again that the development, welfare, and prosperity of all human beings are interdependent.

This virus not only threatens the life and well-being of people across the globe, it also drastically increases and exacerbates poverty, hunger, and the inequalities that exist between and among countries.

It sounds alarming that the unjust, illegal, illegitimate self-serving, and unilateral approaches adopted by a few are undermining and threatening multilateralism when it is needed most. In fact, the main and current global challenges remain to be the two most destructive anti-growth and anti-development viruses, namely Covid-19 and UCMs.

The U.S. illegitimate unilateral coercive measures, including the imposition of illegal unilateral sanctions on developing countries, on the one hand, and the international community’s inaction towards that, on the other, have turned the pivotal ideal of sustainable development, namely “no one should be left behind”, into a purely decorative, absurd and meaningless claim.

Such measures are designed and executed to deny nations of their inherent human rights – in particular the right to development, depriving governments of means essential for achieving sustainable development. Currently, as this unprecedented global public health crisis continues to ravage communities throughout the world, UCMs are basically paralyzing national healthcare systems in total disregard to Goal 3 of the Agenda.

Despite all restraints, including the ones culminating from the U.S. unjustifiable and unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA and the re-imposition of illegal sanctions, the Islamic Republic of Iran, while deprived of the projected benefits of the accord, is geared to scale up its efforts to build a more prosperous and sustainable future for its people.

As a result of these unwavering efforts, Iran ranks 59th among 166 countries in the Sustainable Development Goals Index according to the “Sustainable Development Report 2020”, which confirms the extent of Iran’s achievements despite all constraints. For instance, in the field of education; ending illiteracy and providing universal free public education up to secondary school, has approached its full realization.

Pertaining to women and their participation in social as well as economic sectors, currently, 27% of faculty members, more than 50% of college students and almost 37% of medical doctors are women.

At the decision-making level, there has been a 60% increase in women’s appointments to these aforementioned careers.

In spite of unjust sanctions, we have also made astonishing progress in the area of biotechnology and stem cells. And today, we are proud to announce that Iran has become one of the manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines.

As for the climate change mitigation and adaptation, the special circumstances of my country under the illegitimate unilateral sanctions have left no access to the means of implementation for climate action under the Convention.

Despite these obstacles, the strategy of a low carbon economy is just one of the environmental mandates, as stated by our Supreme Leader, under which Iran has made significant strides in transforming to a low carbon economy.

In the field of natural disasters, Iran has been committed to playing an important role and has a notable share in helping vulnerable countries to be more resilient against such catastrophes.

In this connection, Iran is hosting the UNESCAP Center for Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) and voluntarily funding its activities.

Here, let me refer to one of the most important challenges our Country and countries across the larger region face: sand and dust storms. Iran, with its arid land, faces the thickest barrier of sand in some parts for a large portion of the dry season.

A comprehensive national plan has been put in place to deal with desertification and drought. Cooperation with other affected countries in the region has been pursued to synergize our efforts in dealing with the problem.

Dear Colleagues,

Iran has taken vital steps in the area of sustainable energy and unimpeded public access to it. Accordingly, to provide access to energy in a fair, cost-effective, adequate, reliable, sustainable and optimal manner in line with the UN “Sustainable Development Goal 7” (SDG7), Iran has, despite unilateral economic sanctions, spent enormous amounts of money to develop the critical infrastructure in an adaptable and resilient fashion.

The average access index of over 99.80 percent of the people to electricity and over 95 percent of the people to natural gas attests to our success in achieving the highest energy access indices and our accomplishments in the area of sustainable development.

The Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready to support the “Dialogue on Energy” initiative of the UN General Assembly.

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Addressing a UN General Assembly meeting titled “The United Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy”, the ambassador said Iran is determined to confront the ominous phenomenon of terrorism in all its forms.

Takht-Ravanchi blasted terrorist acts against critical infrastructures such as the one carried out against Iran’s Natanz nuclear site on April 11, saying terrorist attacks against energy facilities, including nuclear facilities, can lead to “radiological as well as radioactive environmental disasters.”

The full text Takht-Ravanchi’s speech reads as follows:

“I begin by paying special tribute to the victims of terrorism particularly Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, a prominent figure in the fight against Daesh in Iraq and Syria, who was assassinated in a terrorist attack perpetrated by the U.S. forces on January 3, 2020 in Baghdad International Airport.

While emphasizing national ownership and leadership in combating terrorism, and recognizing the pivotal role of the General Assembly in this process, the Islamic Republic of Iran reiterates its unwavering commitment to combat terrorism and rejects all acts and methods of terrorism.

The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that terrorism can only be countered through international cooperation as well as methods that primarily address its root causes.
Still, in most parts of the world, socioeconomic and political problems, illegitimate military presence and foreign military intervention and occupation, constitute the main sources of terrorism and violent extremism.

However, our longstanding legal position is that any resistance against occupation and foreign intervention in the exercise of self-defense cannot be considered terrorism.

In this context, the Palestinian people have every right to resist the occupation of their territory by the Zionist regime.

It is also our strong belief that under the pretext of fighting terrorism, no State has the right to commit acts of aggression, interference in the internal affairs of other States, or condone flagrant violations of human rights and humanitarian law, such as torture, kidnapping, illegal detention, disappearance or extrajudicial execution and targeted killing.

At the same time, unilateral coercive measures (UCMs) continue to undermine the efforts of targeted countries in countering terrorism. Furthermore, since by nature, UCMs target ordinary people, they contribute to the root causes of terrorism.

In addition, UCMs are generally imposed to incite insurgency and dissatisfaction among ordinary citizens against their government and as such are no less than acts of terrorism.

The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly rejects double standards as well as unlawful unilateral actions under the pretext of combatting terrorism. Unilateral listing of UN member States or their constitutionally-established institutions accusing them of supporting terrorism, in order to pursue a political agenda, contradict purposes and principles of the UN Charter and as such must be rejected.

The presence of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs) and their accompanying families in the conflict zones is still a growing source of concern to our entire region. My delegation welcomes the achievement of the 7th review to address the issue of transfer of FTFs to and within conflict zones. Unfortunately, since the last review in 2018, the 7th Strategy has failed to address some other fundamental issues related to FTFs that are among the emerging issues such as repatriation.

While there are unanswered questions as to how and why those FTFs including from countries that claim to pioneer human rights have been radicalized and deployed, committing acts of terrorism in our region, it is also a matter of serious concern that the same countries refrain from repatriating those FTFs and their families especially women and children from camps in conflict zones.

Since 1979, more than 17,000 of our innocent citizens, including the President, the Prime Minister, the Head of Judiciary, several ministers and members of Parliament as well as several nuclear scientists, have been assassinated by terrorist groups that are being sheltered and provided safe havens in Europe and North America with unimpeded access to and connections with government officials.

It is to be reminded that the strategy “calls upon member states to deny terrorist groups safe haven, freedom of operations, movement and recruitment and financial, material or political support” and “to ensure that terrorists do not find safe haven online.

In the same vein, the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly supports access to justice for victims of terrorism and victims of measures taken under the pretext of fight against terrorism including through drone attacks.

As the Strategy recalls, any national efforts to compensate the victims of terrorism should fully respect international law including the principle of immunity of states and their properties.

On the issue of terrorist attacks against critical infrastructures, the Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes the reference, in this resolution, to the condemnation of terrorist attacks against energy facilities, including nuclear facilities, that lead to radiological as well as radioactive environmental disasters.

This is in reference to the first ever terrorist attack on 11 April 2021 and simultaneously with the current 7th review of GCTS negotiations, against the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant, a nuclear facility under the supervision of the IAEA.

While acknowledging the importance of efforts to counter the financing of terrorism, we reiterate our principled opposition regarding any reference to non-UN, non-inclusive initiatives that embrace political rather than technical considerations on the financing of terrorism.

However, the Islamic Republic of Iran implements this strategy in accordance with its international obligations as well as relevant internal policies and regulations.”

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In response to a recent letter from the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi denied the allegations against Iran and strongly condemned the recent U.S. attacks in Syria and Iraq, which he described as a violation of the UN Charter.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield recently claimed in a letter to the Security Council that recent U.S. airstrikes on the Iraqi-Syrian border were aimed at preventing “Iran-backed militias” attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities.

In his letter to the president of the Security Council, Majid Takht Ravanchi stated that he had stated several times in the past, including in his letters to the president of the Security Council, that the Islamic Republic of Iran was not involved, directly or indirectly, in any armed attack by any institution or individual against U.S. personnel or facilities in Iraq.

He added that, therefore, any attempt to implicitly or explicitly attribute such an accusation to Iran is inaccurate and lacks even the most obvious reliable information to prove it, and is completely baseless, and “therefore we categorically reject such claims.”

He noted, “We consider them legally invalid and devoid of any effect.”

Takht Ravanchi has emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran has categorically rejected the U.S. arbitrary interpretation of Article 51 of the UN Charter to justify its illegal military attack on Syria and Iraq on June 27 and strongly condemns these illegal actions, which violate the sovereignty of the two countries.

He pointed out that the U.S. argument that such attacks were carried out to “deter” the Islamic Republic of Iran and so-called “Iran-backed militias” from further attacks on U.S. personnel or facilities in Iraq has “no real or legal” basis.

He said such allegation is based solely on an arbitrary interpretation of Article 51 of the UN Charter, and that the U.S. attacks are a clear violation of international law, in particular Article 2 of the UN Charter.

The Iranian ambassador concluded by emphasizing that the recent U.S. attempt to accuse others in the region of covering up irresponsible and destabilizing activities or its attempt to divert attention away from its illegal and adventurous military actions in the region are doomed to failure.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Defense announced airstrikes on the positions of Iraqi and Syrian groups in the border areas of Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon said in an official statement that its fighter jets had targeted two weapons depots and military installations in Syria and a position in Iraq.

“Specifically, the U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries,” the Pentagon statement said, claiming that the facilities have been used by Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS).

The Pentagon also said that the airstrikes were carried out at the U.S. president’s direction and were in line with the U.S. “right to self-defense.” The Pentagon also justified its move by saying that the groups targeted were “Iran-backed militia groups,” which “are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.”

Iran strongly condemned the attacks, describing them as fomenting further instability in the region.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the airstrikes are a step in the wrong direction. “The U.S. still continues along the wrong road in the region,” the spokesman said.

Khatibzdeh said the U.S. air raids are yet another indication that the Biden administration is following in the Trump administration’s footsteps in terms of pursuing hostile acts against Iran whether by using sanctions or regional airstrikes.

“Unfortunately, not only in the field of imposing oppressive sanctions against the Iranian nation, but also in the field of regional behavior, we see the continuation of the failed U.S. policy and legacy in the region,” Khatibzadeh lamented.

He described the U.S. move as “sentimental,” calling on Washington to let the region’s people determine their destiny away from foreign interference.

“The advice to the new administration in the United States is to change its course instead of these sentimental behaviors and instead of creating crises and living in tension and creating problems for the people of the region, it should let the people of this region decide their own destiny without their intervention,” Khatibzadeh continued.

“What the United States is doing is disrupting regional security, and one of the victims of this disrupted regional security will be the United States itself in the region,” the spokesman pointed out.

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According to Press TV, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, made the remarks in an address to the Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict, after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres presented his annual report.

The report covers countries and organizations under the UN’s Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism, which are listed as grave violators in the report’s annexes.

Recruitment of child soldiers, attacks on schools and hospitals, killing and maiming, sexual assault and abduction of children could trigger inclusion in the annex, which could result in Security Council sanctions.

However, the Tel Aviv regime has never been listed. The Saudi-led military coalition which has waged a bloody war on Yemen was removed from the list in 2020. It happened some years after the coalition was first named and shamed for killing and injuring Yemeni kids.

Takht-Ravanchi demanded a mechanism for the inclusion or exclusion of names in the blacklist so as to ensure the impartiality and validity of the UN function.

“Protection of children, particularly girls, in armed conflicts is a fundamental moral and humanitarian principle and every effort must be made to ensure that it is fully respected by all parties in all conflicts,” he said.

“The mechanism to list the parties violating the rights of children in armed conflicts must also be used effectively and without discrimination and selectivity. It is a source of grave concern that the Israeli forces have never been blacklisted as violators of children’s rights in relevant reports of the secretary-general and also the name of the so-called Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen has been deleted from the top of that list,” he added.

The Iranian envoy also said that the UN confirmed the killing and wounding of 194 people in Yemen in 2020 by the Saudi-led coalition.

On June 22, 2021, Yemeni children marched across the country to protest the killing of more than 3,500 counterparts and the injuring of over 4,000 over the past six years in Saudi strikes, which have also orphaned thousands of Yemeni kids and displaced millions of them.

Additionally, Takht-Ravanchi said Israel keeps committing the most systematic and gross violations of children’s rights in West Asia.

The UN secretary general’s report confirmed 1,031 cases of severe violence against 340 Palestinian children, including 11 killings, 324 injuries, 361 arrests and 30 attacks on schools and hospitals by Israeli forces, he added, noting that 66 children were among the 253 Palestinians who lost their lives in the 11-day Israeli war on Gaza last month.

“These barbaric acts are clear manifestations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, materially breach fundamental norms and principles of international law, and entail international responsibility of the Israeli regime, whose officials must therefore be brought to justice for committing such heinous crimes,” Takht-Ravanchi stated.

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Majid Takht Ravanchi made the remarks in a statement read at an informal meeting of the UNSC on Friday.

He stressed that the only “absolute guarantee” against the use of the WMD is to eliminate them all and to ensure that they will never be developed, a “noble objective” that clearly demonstrates the “inherent value” of non-proliferation and disarmament regimes.
“Nevertheless, the authority of such regimes and the credibility of relevant international institutions have seriously been challenged and undermined in the past decades, ironically in most cases, not by those seeking to develop WMDs but by those who have abused non-proliferation regimes to advance their own interests,” Takht Ravanchi added.
Iran’s permanent envoy to the UN pointed to some examples that prove the dual approach adopted by the Western member states of the UNSC regarding the WMD and non-proliferation and disarmament regimes.

Takht Ravanchi said the UNSC was “dead silent” when Iraq’s former dictator, Saddam Hussain, killed thousands of Iranian and Iraqi citizens by using chemical weapons during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s.
“It was the case when Iraq was invaded by Western countries based on completely false WMD-related claims. The Council is again silent when Syria has been under extreme pressure in recent years because certain powers are abusing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to advance their illegitimate interests in that country,” he added.

Takht Ravanchi also said Iran, likewise, was put under unprecedented UN sanctions until 2016 just because certain Western powers, under the so-called proliferation concerns, accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, while Tehran has repeatedly said that it only pursue a peaceful nuclear program.

Nevertheless, Israel, which has already developed all types of WMDs and refused to join international treaties prohibiting such deadly weapons, is not held accountable by the UNSC since it is shielded by the United States, he further said.
“We also strongly reject all efforts undermining the CWC’s authority and the OPCW’s credibility and call for the balanced, full, and non-discriminatory implementation of the CWC and upholding the authority of the OPCW,” Takht Ravanchi concluded.

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The remarks by Iran’s top diplomat to the UN, who was involved in crafting the 2015 nuclear deal, came as senior diplomats from Iran and the P4+1 nations met in Vienna on how to revitalize the agreement.

The U.S. also sent its diplomatic team, led by President Biden’s special envoy for Iran Robert Malley, to Vienna for backchannel talks with diplomats from P4+1 group.

The talks took place within the JCPOA Joint Commission which the European Union is responsible for.

The Tuesday meeting in Vienna was arranged in the virtual talks between Iran and P4+1 countries on Friday.

The U.S. was not present in Friday’s talks.

Although the new U.S. administration has expressed willingness to enter direct talks with the Iranian side, official in Iran has said there will be no talks until the U.S. lifts all illegal and unjustified sanctions.

Iran has said even there will be no indirect talks with the American side in Vienna.

Takht Ravanchi said the new U.S. administration “has so far failed to honor” campaign promises by President Joe Biden to rejoin the nuclear agreement.

The diplomat suggested that “this opportunity should not be wasted.”

He reiterated Tehran’s long-held position that if the U.S. lifts all sanctions, then the Islamic Republic will “cease all remedial measures”.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a withdrawal of the U.S. from the JCPOA in May 2018 and returned previous sanctions and ordered new ones within his “maximum pressure” policy. Iran waited for a year to see whether the European trio – Britain, France, and Germany – would compensate Iran for the U.S. sanctions. However, Iran started to gradually remove limits on its nuclear activities after seeing no concrete action by the European side.

Iran’s actions were in accordance to paragraph 36 of the JCPOA which has “provided a mechanism to resolve disputes and allows one side, under certain circumstances, to stop complying with the deal if the other side is out of compliance.”

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The letter came a week after an Israeli-owned cargo ship said it had been crippled by a suspected blast while it was in the Sea of Oman, claiming that it suffered holes in both sides of its hull. The giant MV Helios Ray, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off vehicle cargo ship, which sat at dry dock facilities at Dubai’s Port Rashid on Sunday for repairs following the alleged blast, left the port on Wednesday, sailing along the Omani coast toward the Arabian Sea.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hastily accused Iran of attacking the ship. Iran categorically rejected the charge.

Takht-Ravanchi also called on the international community not to lose sight of the “crimes, brutalities, and threats” committed by the Tel Aviv regime, particularly “its occupation of Palestine and parts of other countries.”

He also warned the global community of the Israeli regime’s “persistent military adventurism” in a region as volatile as the Middle East.

Last week, The Iranian ambassador pointed out that the Islamic Republic of Iran has shown in practice that it has no interest in making provocative moves and escalating tensions even during the time when the Trump administration started to stoke tensions and make provocative moves.

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The Iranian diplomat said, “Sanctions severely undermine the ability of a number of developing countries, such as Iran, to meet the challenges of climate change.”

“Unilateral US sanctions against Iran have not only prevented the country’s access to the necessary financial resources and technologies, but have also adversely affected the effective use of national capabilities to meet its obligations, and therefore these illegal and inhumane sanctions should be lifted,” he added.

The Paris agreement seeks to avert climate change by limiting global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures by 2050. It also sets out a goal of reaching a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius, if possible.

Most scientists believe the world must cut emissions sharply and quickly in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming. China, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union (EU) have recently ramped up their carbon-cutting targets.

In November 2019, the administration of former US President Donald Trump presented Washington’s withdrawal letter to the UN, saying it would be officially out of the Paris accord on November 4, 2020, one day after the US election.

During the UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Takht-Ravanchi stressed that developed countries have a greater responsibility to meet such challenges in view of their key role in climate change and their access to adequate technologies and financial resources, Press TV reported.

“Developed countries should not only be at the forefront of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and provide adequate financial support to developing countries but should also facilitate the transfer of climate-friendly technologies to these countries,” he told the meeting.

The Iranian envoy also said developing countries must live up to their commitments in accordance with their national capabilities and conditions, and reiterated that the international community must remove all obstacles to the effective implementation of their commitments, one of which is unilateral sanctions.

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“Now, they have imposed three kinds of sanctions on us. If none of this is repealed, there is no point in returning of the United States to the JCPOA,” he added.

“It is of no value to just say that I am ready to return to the JCPOA if the sanctions are not be lifted in practice,” the Iranian diplomat said, adding, “We can not just sign an agreement. It does not make sense if the signature is not accompanied by a process for verifying the actions.”

He highlighted, “If it is announced that the embargo on Iranian oil has been lifted, there must be guarantees that there will be no problem in selling oil, and the buyer can be able to easily transfer the money to Iran through the global banking system.”

“The Europeans told us to wait and we would compensate for the withdrawal of the US. But not only did they not compensate, but they also did not fulfill their obligations under the JCPOA,” Takht-Ravanchi noted.

After the illegitimate US exit from the JCPOA in May 2018, the three European signatories to the deal remained indifferent to making up for Iran’s losses.

Amid the Europeans’ lack of action, Iran took five steps to reduce its commitments to the deal while vowing that it will reverse the course as soon as the other parties live up to their commitments under the accord.

Recently, the Iranian parliament passed a bill, dubbed the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions in early last December, setting a Feb. 21 deadline for Biden to lift the US sanctions. Otherwise, Iran will halt inspections of its nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and further boost uranium enrichment.

Iran has so far resumed 20% uranium enrichment at Fordow plant in accordance with the Parliament’s legislation and has warned that in the case Washington does not remove all the anti-Iran illegitimate sanctions, it will also stop voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, which gives IAEA inspectors unannounced visits to Iranian facilities.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has emphasized that for Tehran, the return of the United States to the JCPOA is not an important issue, but what is important is the lifting of US sanctions against Iran.

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