Donald Trump has vowed to use a controversial move to impose unilateral UN sanctions on Tehran, following what the Iranian president said was a humiliating defeat for the US in his bid to extend an arms embargo on Tehran.
A day after the UN Security Council overwhelmingly rejected a US resolution to extend the embargo, Trump said at a news conference at his golf club in New Jersey: “We will do a snapback. You will be watching the new week. ”
The US president referred to the controversial argument that the US remains a ‘participant’ in Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal – despite Trump withdrawing from it – and could therefore force a return to sanctions if it sees Iran as in conflict with its terms .
European allies have been skeptical about whether Washington could impose sanctions, however, with experts saying a ‘snapback’ threatens to plunge the council into one of its worst diplomatic crises ever.
The president of Iran said earlier on Saturday that the US had suffered a humiliating defeat when the council voted Friday on the US proposal.
Russia and China voted against, while 11 members – including France, Germany and Britain – abstained. The US and the Dominican Republic were the only votes in favor.
“I do not remember the US months ago preparing a resolution to strike a blow on the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it gets only one vote,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech. “But the great success was that the US was defeated in this conspiracy with humiliation.”
The spokesman for Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Mousavi wrote: “In the 75 years of United Nations history, America has never been so isolated,” while people on the streets of Tehran received mixed reactions.
‘This is an American political game. “One day they will give a resolution to the Security Council, the next day they will say they have taken Iranian fuel,” said a worker at the city’s grand bazaar, who gave his name only as Ahmadi.
An employee of the drug store named Abdoli told AFP she was happy that Iran won, but added that it “would have to interact with the United States and establish relations”.
The UN arms embargo on Iran is due to fall under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, lifting many international sanctions against Iran in exchange for curfews on Iran’s nuclear program. Donald Trump pulled the US back into the deal in 2018.
“It’s a serious mistake, we’m sorry,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday from the Security Council vote in a news conference during a visit to Poland.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said the Security Council’s decision not to extend the arms embargo on Iran could lead to further instability in the Middle East.
“The extremist regime in Iran does not just fund terrorism: it takes an active part in terrorism through its branches around the world and uses it as a political tool. “This behavior represents a threat to regional and international stability,” Ashkenazi said in a statement on Saturday.
The Security Council vote follows a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit of world leaders to prevent a “confrontation” over the US threat to trigger a return of all UN sanctions on Tehran. Trump also said Saturday that he “probably will not” run for the top job.
“I think we’ll wait until after the election,” he said, with the US holding its presidential election in November.
Pompeo spoke in Poland and made it clear that the US would press on.
“It is unfortunate that the French and the United Kingdom … did not support what the Gulf states demanded, what the Israelis demanded … I deeply regret that,” Pompeo told reporters.
“The United States aims to ensure that the Iranians and this regime, this theocratic regime, do not have the capacity to harm the world even more.”
• This article was amended on 16 August 2020 to correct Abbas Mousavi’s description; he is Iran’s foreign affairs spokesman, not foreign minister as an earlier version stated.
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