Snapback mechanism Archives - Iran News Daily

The Snapback Mechanism: The Outcome of the Battle of Siffin

siavash — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 08:57:24 +0000

The Snapback Mechanism: The Outcome of the Battle of Siffin

TEHRAN (Iran News) The war had been going decisively in Imam Ali’s favor. The Iraqi forces had killed key Syrian commanders, and Muawiya’s army was on the verge of total collapse. Muawiya and his crafty commander Amr ibn al-As realized they would be militarily defeated. Therefore, they devised a political tactic to save themselves. At Amr ibn al-As’s command, the Syrian soldiers raised Qur’ans on their spears and shouted: “Let the Book of God judge between us!”

The real purpose of this act was to stop the war just as they were losing, not genuinely to submit to the Qur’an’s judgment. It was a highly effective psychological war tactic. Now the infiltrators had to take the next step. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) clearly recognized this deception. He warned his troops that it was a trick and that the enemy had no claim to religiosity. He insisted that the battle must continue until final victory was secured.

But here lay the main problem: a group within Imam’s army (led by Ash’ath ibn Qays and others), later known as the Qurra (reciters of the Qur’an), were deceived by this display. They pressured the Imam to submit to the “judgment of the Qur’an” and even threatened that if he refused, they would abandon him as they had abandoned Uthman (the third caliph), or even betray him. The pressure was so intense that Imam Ali (peace be upon him), despite his inner reluctance, in order to prevent internal rebellion and the fragmentation of his army, was forced to accept a ceasefire. Both sides agreed to appoint one arbitrator each, to judge between them based on the Qur’an (and not the Prophet’s Sunnah).

From Imam Ali (AS)’s side, Abu Musa al-Ash’ari (a moderate but simple-minded and unstable man) was chosen.

From Muawiya’s side, Amr ibn al-As (a shrewd and cunning politician) was chosen.

This very selection reflected the weakness of Imam’s camp; influential figures in the army did not accept decisive individuals like Malik al-Ashtar or even the Imam himself. “Snapback Mechanism”

After the war ended and the army returned to Kufa, some of those who had previously insisted on arbitration realized their mistake. They said: “Why did you appoint humans as judges when judgment belongs only to God?”

This group, initially called the Muhakkimah (supporters of the slogan “No judgment but God’s”), and later known as the Kharijites (rebels), not only rejected the arbitration but also declared Imam Ali (peace be upon him) guilty of “disbelief” for accepting it. They withdrew their allegiance from the Imam and became a serious internal threat, eventually forcing Imam to confront them at Nahrawan.

Acceptance of Articles 36 and 37 of the JCPOA, which contained the “snapback mechanism” (trigger mechanism), was undoubtedly imposed on the Iranian nation and leadership by today’s Ash’ath ibn Qays-like figures and infiltrators within the high-level decision-making structures of the Islamic Republic. Now, with its activation, the loyal defenders of the system are left helpless, and no wise path forward seems available.

The resolution, with near certainty, of the UN Security Council, gives the United States a pretext to bomb our oil facilities and to block our ability to sell oil and manage the system.

The result of appeasing infiltrators throughout the existence of the system has always brought heavy costs, and without confronting them, no path for resistance will remain.

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German Minister: US Has No Right to Trigger Snapback Mechanism

reporter 1222 — Sun, 04 Oct 2020 14:12:57 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said since the US government is no more a party to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, it has no right to trigger a snapback mechanism to invoke the UN sanctions against Tehran.

“Germany, France and the United Kingdom remain committed to preserving and fully implementing the JCPOA. This agreement is currently the only instrument we have to keep Iran’s nuclear ambitions verifiably contained under robust international oversight. We urge Iran to refrain from any further JCPOA violations. On the contrary, Iran should take concrete practical steps towards full compliance with its nuclear commitments,” Maas told Al-Araby al-Jadeed in an interview published on Sunday.

He added, “Our position on snapback is very clear: Only JCPOA participants may notify the UN Security Council of significant non-performance of commitments under the JCPOA by Iran. The US left the agreement in 2018 and therefore no longer has a right to trigger the mechanism called ‘snapback’. We have taken note of the sanctions the US administration has re-imposed on Iran and we have expressed our regret in this regard. We also decided not to join its ‘maximum pressure’ campaign. EU sanctions against Iran remain lifted to the extent required under the JCPOA. This, in turn, also means that the EU arms embargo remains in force until 2023″.

The United Kingdom, France, and Germany, all signatories to the JCPOA, say the US does not have the legal right to trigger “snapback” sanctions because it pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.

Russia and China, the other two JCPOA parties, have also strongly expressed their opposition to the US request.

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Iran Rejects Claim of Imposing UNSC Sanctions

reporter 1222 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 11:21:42 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected Washington’s claim that the UN Security Council sanctions on Tehran have been reinstated according to the snapback mechanism of the JCPOA.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran warned that Tehran will show a serious reaction if Washington or its regional cronies make any move in line with its anti-Iran threats.

The full text of the statement is as follows:

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-� -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 US 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.

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Iran UN Envoy: Snapback Bid from US Null and Void

reporter 1222 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 06:24:09 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s UN ambassador slammed as null and void the US administration’s push to trigger the snapback mechanism of the 2015 nuclear deal after its withdrawal from the agreement, asking the UN Security Council to thwart Washington’s plans for re-imposition of sanctions.

In a Sunday letter to the UN Security Council and to the UN Secretary-General, Iranian envoy Majid Takht Ravanchi called for action against Washington’s plan to reinstate the sanctions on Iran.

Following is the full text of his letter:

Pursuant to the letter dated 20 August 2020 from H.E. Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2020/814), I have the honor to bring the following to your kind attention.

In its letter dated 20 August 2020 to the President of the Security Council, the United States illegally claimed to be a participant to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), attempting to unlawfully invoke operative paragraph 11 of resolution 2231 (2015). The United States has recently claimed that the Security Council resolutions that have been terminated pursuant to paragraph 7 (a) of resolution 2231 (2015) will be reinstated on 20 September 2020.

In reaction to the aforesaid letter of the United States, none of the Security Council members accepted the eligibility of that country to initiate a process to reinstate the Security Council resolutions that have been terminated pursuant to paragraph 7 (a) of resolution 2231 (2015). Rather, through individual or joint letters addressed to the President of the Security Council, 13 members of the Council — including all remaining participant States of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action who are Council members — have unequivocally rejected the legal merit of the United States’ letter.

Similar views have also been expressed by the overwhelming majority of the Security Council members in the meeting of the Council on 25 August 2020, during which, the President of the Council, in response to the questions posed to him on the subject, stated that “having consulted with members and received letters from many member countries, it is clear for me that there is one member which has a particular position on the issue, while there are significant numbers of members who have contesting views. In my view, there is no consensus in the Council, thus the President is not in the position to take further action” (S/2020/837).

Reaffirming that, according to resolution 2231 (2015), the right to initiate a process to reinstate the Security Council resolutions that have been terminated pursuant to paragraph 7 (a) of resolution 2231 (2015) has been reserved only for “the JCPOA participant States”, the members of the Security Council, through the above-mentioned letters and statements, have also made it clear that, following its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the United States is not a “JCPOA participant” anymore, has no right to initiate the concerned process, and accordingly, its letter cannot be considered for the purpose of paragraph 11 of resolution 2231 (2015), thus is void of any legal effect now and in the future.

Likewise, in a statement on 20 August 2020, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Coordinator of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action stated that “as I have repeatedly recalled, the United States unilaterally ceased participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by presidential memorandum on 8 May 2018 and has subsequently not participated in any JCPOA-related activities. It cannot, therefore, be considered to be a JCPOA participant State for the purposes of possible sanctions snapback foreseen by the resolution” (S/2020/839).

Moreover, in the Chair’s statement following a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on 1 September 2020, the remaining participant States of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action “reaffirmed that the United States unilaterally announced its cessation of participation in the JCPOA on 8 May 2018 and that it had not participated in any JCPOA-related activities subsequently. Participants reconfirmed that it therefore could not be considered as a participant State”.

The remaining participants also “reaffirmed their various statements and communications made previously at the UN Security Council including that of the High Representative of 20 August as the Coordinator of the JCPOA to the effect that the US cannot initiate the process of reinstating UN sanctions under UNSC resolution 2231”.

The views of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the above-mentioned attempt by the United States is also reflected in the aforesaid letter of our Minister for Foreign Affairs (S/2020/814), according to which, the letter by the United States is null and void, has no legal standing and effect and is thus completely unacceptable.

Given that the stated objective of the United States is to completely ruin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and to that end, its strategy is to create legal complication through presenting unilateral arbitrary interpretations and pseudo-legal arguments, the Islamic Republic of Iran trusts that the members of the Security Council will, once again, reject the United States’ continued attempt to abuse the Security Council’s process, thus undermining the authority and credibility of the Council and the United Nations.

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Iran: IAEA Head Visiting Tehran not Linked to Snapback

reporter 1222 — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 03:55:09 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran said Sunday that an upcoming visit this week by the head of the UN’s atomic watchdog agency to Tehran has nothing to do with a US push to impose so-called “snapback” sanctions on Iran.

On Sunday, IRNA quoted Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Kazem Gharibadadi, as saying that the visit on Monday is “neither related to the snapback mechanism nor the US demand.”

Gharibabadi said the visit by the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi comes within “the framework of Iran’s invitation.”

The United States was further isolated on Friday over its bid to reimpose international sanctions on Iran with 13 countries on the 15-member UN Security Council expressing their opposition, arguing that Washington’s move is void given it is using a process agreed under a nuclear deal that it quit two years ago.

Last week, the US administration dismissed near-universal opposition to its demand to restore all UN sanctions on Iran, declaring that a 30-day countdown for the “snapback” of penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers had begun.

US allies and foes have joined forces to declare the action illegal and doomed to failure.

“We do not allow others to manage Iran,” Gharibabadi said, adding that Iran’s trust in the IAEA has been “damaged in recent months.”

He expressed the hope that Grossi’s visit will lead to building trust. “It is important to assure Tehran that the agency will move based on impartiality, independence and professionalism,” said Gharibabadi.

The IAEA’s director general said in a statement on Saturday he will travel to Tehran on Monday to meet high-level Iranian authorities.

The visit will be Grossi’s first trip to the country since he took office last December.

During his discussions in Tehran, Grossi will address the cooperation of Iran with the IAEA, and in particular Iran’s provision of access to the agency’s inspectors to requested locations, the UN agency’s official website reported.

“I have decided to come personally to Tehran so that I can reinforce the importance of cooperation and the full implementation of all safeguards commitments and obligations with the IAEA,” Grossi said.

The visit takes place over two months after the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution on June 19, put forward by Britain, France and Germany – the three European signatories to the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The resolution, the first of its kind since 2012, urges Iran to provide the IAEA inspectors with access to two sites that the trio claims may have been used for undeclared nuclear activities in the early 2000s.

The Islamic Republic rejects any allegations of non-cooperation with the IAEA, insisting that it is prepared to resolve potentially outstanding differences with the nuclear agency.

Immediately after the adoption of the IAEA report, Gharibabadi deplored it and said, “Adoption of this resolution will neither encourage Iran to grant access to the Agency based on fabricated and unfounded allegations, nor will it force Iran to come down from its principal positions.”

AP and Press TV contributed to this story.

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U.S. Not Allowed to Use ‘Snapback’ Mechanism Against Iran

reporter 1222 — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 00:55:15 +0000

U.S. Not Allowed to Use ‘Snapback’ Mechanism Against Iran

IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani says the United States is not legally authorized to trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism to reinstate UN sanctions against Iran.

President n Rouhani said on Wednesday that Washington has pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and, hence, is not legally authorized to invoke the sanctions.

“It is stipulated in that mechanism (snapback) that signatories or one of the signatories to the JCPOA can use this mechanism. However, the U.S. cannot use this mechanism as it has clearly announced that it has pulled out of the JCPOA, and that it is the worst agreement, and has withdrawn from it,” said Rouhani.

He then criticized some people who claim the U.S. would not have been able to withdraw from the JCPOA if the foundation of the agreement were stronger.

“Is there an agreement which the US has not pulled out of?” asked the president rhetorically.

“You are saying that the foundation of the JCPOA was not strong enough, but how about the US withdrawal from the WTO, UNESCO, NAFTA and the Paris Climate Agreement? Was their foundation weak, too? The U.S. has pulled out of whatever useful agreements,” said Rouhani.

He then touched upon sanctions, which, he added, has put Iranian people under pressure, and said, “We are standing up to these sanctions, which will come to an end one day … and the rule of tyrants at the White House will not last forever, either.”

“Economic war is in line with plots hatched by the global arrogance against the country,” Rouhani said speaking at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning.

He further said, “We have a very heavy responsibility during the Government Week, like the conspiracies that were plotted against us in the 1970s, and today the global arrogance has plotted against us. At that time, they wanted to overthrow the Islamic system by assassinating the officials. The next day, they pursued this goal with the imposed war and today with the economic war.”

The President called the month of Muharram a large and large school in the world of Shiism and Islam and said: the atmosphere of the country should be Hosseini from the first day of Muharram.

He added, “Once again we are on the eve of the blessed and life-giving month of Muharram. We receive the cultural blessings, trust, and strength of our resistance from the month of Muharram, and always in the month of Muharram, we open the windows of our souls and hearts to the shining sun of guidance and salvation, the Ashura culture, to receive both the light of guidance and the life-giving warmth of that sun.

President Rouhani noted, “The people of Iran witnessed well these days, and on August 19, 1956, the enemy apparently achieved an apparent success that year, but inwardly their path was wrong, but these days, on August 15, 2020, they did not seem to succeed either and they failed in the Security Council”.

“They prepared all this, they sent people and they were begging in different countries and they called, even on the day of the voting, they were constantly pressuring other countries, but they still failed,” he said.

The President said: “I thank the 11 countries that did not vote in the UN Security Council on the plan to extend the arms embargo on Iran, and the two friendly countries – Russia and China – that voted unequivocally against the United States.”

He stated that the U.S. is left alone, the Iranian nation must see this greatness because this victory belongs to the nation and the government is the representative and servant of the people and this event is unprecedented in the history of the United Nations.

The head of the government, stating that strengthening the Islamic Republic is in the interest of all of us, said: Of course, in these special circumstances, we understand and know that the enemy has not achieved and will not achieve its goals with its pressures, but has caused problems and harassed people.

President Rouhani pointed out: “We must stand against the enemy because this period is coming to an end. If anyone in Iran thinks that this regime of the White House and that these oppressive sanctions are permanent, they are both wrong. Both the tyranny of the White House will not last forever and the sanctions will not last forever and the sanctions will break and disappear.”

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Snapback Mechanism , a Broken Knife

reporter 1222 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 00:19:30 +0000

Snapback Mechanism , a Broken Knife

Humiliating defeat of the White House during the United Nations Security Council voting on the U.S. resolution for extending Iran arms embargo has gripped madly U.S. President Donald Trump and his surroundings from his Secretary of State to his National Security Advisor and even the U.S. Ambassador at the UN so that all have been infuriated in a way that they did not think of being remained so isolated in exercising their political will against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

After consecutive defeats in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Venezuela, and with a disgraceful record due to assassinating of Martyr Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and in order to undermine those defeats, the White House has tried in these days to present a resolution to the UNSC in order to take initiative in a way to compensate the small part of its recent defeats, and to block lifting the Iran arms embargo which ends in October. Fortunately they did not achieve any success either in this issue.

Raging bulls in the Spanish bullfighting, after several times that they run in chase of the red cloth and failing to stop the bullfighter, strive madly and sometimes in the old tradition of “Saint Fermin”, they die of sorrow and anger. Nowadays Trump is in such a condition. Immediately after the result of the UNSC voting on the U.S. resolution on Iran arms embargo announced, Trump started efforts for attack and he throws his hand to grab any dust and trash at the time of drowning. In other words, we can say snapback mechanism is one of these efforts.

This time the White House has decided to highlight snapback mechanism and it tries by the scenario of the broken knife not to retreat at least in the media world and to compensate its defeat against the Islamic Republic of Iran by resorting to this mechanism.

Snapback mechanism is a JCPOA measure which has been stipulated in the articles 11 and 12 of Iran’s nuclear deal, namely the JCPOA. In a simple word one should say that snapback mechanism means immediate return to the pre-JCPOA era and return of the sanctions against Iran. In the Resolution 2231 of the UN, it has been mentioned that in case one of the signatories of the nuclear deal, the JCPOA, comprising of Germany, France, UK, Russia, China, the U.S. and Iran complains about lack of commitment, the complaint should be first reviewed at the joint commission of the JCPOA and if they do not reach an agreement, the case is to be referred to the UNSC.

This mechanism is applicable for those countries which are still committed to the JCPOA. When Mr. Trump officially signed the pullout of the U.S. from the JCPOA, the meaning of using the snapback mechanism by the U.S. is exactly the same as the behavior of a raging bull which has suffered defeat from the matador.

The bullfighting, ,which is called “Saint Fermin” and every year it was held on July 6 for seven days in the city of Pamplona in Spain, has precise instructions. According to the instructions and rules of the game, the matador after noticing disappointment and haplessness in the defeated bull should not attack at it or hitting his sword on it because this innocent animal is itself passing on due to fear and disappointment.

In the snapback mechanism exactly the same conditions are raised that if one of the permanent members of the UNSC vetoes , all sanctions will return automatically without re-voting about the previous resolutions of the UNSC against Iran as one of most important one was the Resolution 1929 which had been approved against Iran. In fact in this condition, the JCPOA will be totally destroyed and multilateral sanctions against Iran would return. But regarding the JCPOA, the condition is not so. There has been no obligation left that the Islamic Republic of Iran has not fulfilled in advance, of course, due to the imprudence of the Iranian officials.

So even those countries that still left in the JCPOA feel there is no justification for activating the mechanism leverage, let alone the U.S. which is not today a member of the JCPOA.

By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

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Zarif: US Can’t Trigger Snapback on Tehran

reporter 1222 — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 04:12:14 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has denounced the US attempts to invoke snapback mechanism to unilaterally reinstate sanctions on Tehran – a move with huge repercussions for the Iran nuclear deal.

“American snapback is illegal and unacceptable and the Americans know they cannot use snapback,” Zarif said during a ceremony in the capital Tehran on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump pledged Saturday to use the technique, a day after the UN Security Council overwhelmingly rejected an American resolution to extend an Iranian arms embargo.

“We’ll be doing a snapback,” Trump said during a news conference at his New Jersey golf club. “You’ll be watching it next week.”

“Snapback” was envisioned in the event Iran was proven to be in violation of the 2015 nuclear accord. Trump pulled out of the agreement, known as the JCPOA, in 2018. But the US circulated a six-page memo Thursday from State Department lawyers, claiming that the United States remained part of the 2015 Security Council resolution that endorsed the deal and still had the right to use the snapback provision.

Zarif strongly dismissed the contention. “American snapback is so illegal that it is not acceptable, and they know they cannot use it,” he said.

“We should not think that if they say something loudly and repeat it, they are right,” Zarif added.

The European Union announced on Sunday the US is not entitled to enforce the return of sanctions on Iran via the snapback mechanism.

US not entitled

“Since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in May 2018 and has not participated in it since, it could not be considered a participant,” said a spokeswoman of the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

“Therefore, we believe that the US is not in a position to access mechanisms that are reserved for JCPOA participants.”

Iranian Ambassador Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Saturday the US sought to use the arms embargo “as a pretext for killing the JCPOA forever through the snapback mechanism.”

Zarif recalled that on May 8, 2018, former US national security adviser John Bolton “was so overjoyed to have ruined the JCPOA” that he triumphantly boasted during a press conference at the White House that “We are no longer a member of JCPOA to use the snapback mechanism.”

“The minutes are still on the White House website unless they go and remove them,” the top Iranian diplomat said.

The five other signatories of the JCOPA — Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, and Germany — remain committed to the deal, and diplomats from several of these countries have voiced concern that extending the arms embargo would lead Iran to exit the nuclear agreement and speed up its nuclear energy program.

China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun reiterated after the vote the Chinese contention that since the US is no longer party to the 2015 agreement, it is “ineligible to demand the Security Council invoke a snapback.”

He said the overwhelming majority of council members “believe the US attempt has no legal basis.”

“Should the US insist regardless of international opinion, it is doomed to fail like today,” Zhang said in a statement, adding that the vote showed “that unilateralism receives no support and bullying will fail.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proposed a video summit with the United States and the remaining parties to the nuclear deal to try to avoid further “confrontation and escalation of the situation in the Security Council.”

“The issue is urgent,” Putin said in a statement, adding that the alternative was “only further escalation of tensions, increasing risk of conflict – such a scenario must be avoided.”

China said on Saturday that it welcomes Putin’s proposal.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Beijing appreciates Russia’s efforts to ease tensions on the Iranian nuclear program and to strengthen regional security, Zhao said.

China has always firmly supported the JCPOA and is devoted to safeguarding peace and stability in the Middle East, said Zhao.

“China is willing to work with parties concerned to keep close communication and coordination, and jointly promote the process of political resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue.”

The US president on Saturday all but dismissed Putin’s call for a summit of world leaders to discuss Iran, saying he probably would not participate.

When asked whether he would participate in the Putin-backed summit, Trump responded, “Probably not.”

Press TV, Reuters, Xinhua, and rnd.de contributed to this story.

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