US accuses Iran
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo handed over the request for the restoration of sanctions to the President of the UN Security Council, citing Iran’s serious violations of the 2015 nuclear accord.
“The United States will never allow the world’s largest terrorist sponsor to freely buy and sell aircraft, tanks, missiles, and other conventional weapons … (or) possess nuclear weapons,” Pompeo said at a press conference at the United Nations.
He added that the US action would extend the arms embargo that expires on October 18 and also prevent Iran from testing ballistic missiles and enriching nuclear materials.
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, replied on Twitter: “It looks like there are 2 planets. A fictional one in which the United States pretends to be able to do whatever it wants, disregarding anyone, break and reject agreements,” but they still want to use them, and the other in which the rest of the world lives and where international law and diplomacy reign. “
The source of the current diplomatic conflict
At the heart of the dispute is President Donald Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between the six world powers and Iran. The United States maintains that, pursuant to the Security Council resolution approving the agreement, it retains the right as a party to the agreement to impose sanctions.
Russia, China, the UK, France, and virtually all other council members say the Trump administration has no right to do so because it is no longer party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Despite this, Pompeo said the process leading to the re-imposition of UN sanctions has begun. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear regulatory body, reported some Iranian violations of the agreement, but Tehran says they are the result of the United States breaching the agreement by withdrawing from it and then re-imposing severe unilateral sanctions.
Pompeo noted that the European participants in the deal were trying to get Iran to implement the deal. However, he said that “despite the extensive efforts and exhaustive diplomacy by these member states there are no significant results”; “As a result, the United States has no choice but to inform the council that Iran is largely not fulfilling its JCPOA commitments.” wrote Pompeo.
The UN Security Council does not speak with one voice
The Pompeo letter was accompanied by a six-page explanation of why the United States believed it retained the right to invoke the agreement. The US insistence that it can authorize a withdrawal has already been rejected by virtually all of the other 15 council members.
Germany, a participant in the agreement with Iran, currently sits on the council for a two-year term and is also against it. “France, Germany and the United Kingdom note that the United States ceased to be a participant in the JCPOA after its withdrawal from the agreement on May 8, 2018,” the group said in a statement released after Pompeo submitted the letter. “We therefore cannot support this action,” which is inconsistent with our current efforts to support the JCPOA. “
Pompeo attacked Europeans, accusing them of privately agreeing with US concerns, but not having the courage to say it publicly: “Instead, they chose to side with the Ayatollahs,” he said. as well as their own citizens. “
Iran’s answer
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told UN chief Antonio Guterres in a phone call on Thursday that the Security Council must resist US demands.
“This would have dangerous consequences for international law, it would only destroy international mechanisms and discredit the Security Council,” said Zarif.
Europe counts on maintaining the nuclear deal in the event Trump lose in the November presidential election, comments the PA, and adds – Democratic Joe Biden announced that he will try to restore the accord. Europe is concerned that the re-imposition of sanctions could lead Iran to abandon the deal altogether and continue its efforts to manufacture nuclear weapons.
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