US demands restoration of UN sanctions against Iran
According to ALJAZEERA, the administration of US President Donald Trump has formally notified the United Nations that it wants all UN sanctions on Iran restored, claiming significant Iranian violations of the 2015 nuclear deal, in a move that drew swift rejections from countries that remain part of the agreement.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered the notification to the president of the UN Security Council on Thursday, and later told reporters the US had the right to reimpose sanctions under UN resolution 2231 that laid out the rules of the deal between Iran and six world powers. The US withdrew from the accord in 2018.
"We think this is really straightforward we think this is very simple," Pompeo said. "These UN Security Council resolutions will come back into place 31 days from now, and the United States will vigorously enforce them."
He said he expected the other UN Security Council members to "comply with their obligations".
Iran's Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi said on Thursday the US letter was "inadmissible".
"The US has no legal authority. The US has no legal argument whatsoever," he said.
Ravanchi said the US had failed to utilise the dispute process under resolution 2231, adding that before notifying the Security Council it must have made "good faith efforts to resolve the issue". The US move was "doomed to failure," he said.
"We are confident that nothing is going to happen in the next 30 days. So, the US attempt is is in futility," Ravanchi said.
A Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, condemned the US move on Twitter.
"Looks like there are 2 planets. A fictional dog-eat-dog one where US pretends it can do whatever it wants without ‘cajoling’ anyone, breach and leave deals but still benefit from them, and another one where the rest of the world lives and where intl law and diplomacy reign", he wrote.
Separately, three European nations also rejected the move and stressed their continuing support for the nuclear accord, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"France, Germany and the United Kingdom note that the US ceased to be a participant to the JCPOA following their withdrawal from the deal on May 8, 2018," the group said in a statement. "We cannot therefore support this action which is incompatible with our current efforts to support the JCPOA."
