President Trump “has no right to activate” a United Nations Security Council mechanism to destroy the 2015 Iran nuclear deal by repealing sanctions, according to a senior Chinese diplomat, whose argument garnered European support.
“Having withdrawn from the JCPOA, the United States is no longer a participant and has no right to cause the sanctions to roll back,” Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said during a virtual meeting of the UN Security Council, using the formal acronym for the agreement. .
Germany agreed. “I would also align with what my Chinese colleague just said about the snapback mechanism,” said German Ambassador Christoph Heusgen at the same time.
Those statements foreshadow a major confrontation in the Security Council in October, when an international arms embargo will expire in accordance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to withdraw all international sanctions waived when the agreement with Iran if China or Russia vetoed a new Security Council resolution extending the arms embargo.
“The overwhelming preference of the United States is to work with this council to extend the arms embargo to protect human life, protect our national security, and protect theirs,” Pompeo told the council Tuesday morning.
Still, the Pompeo team argues that the deal was carefully worded, in a way that gives Trump the prerogative to invoke the deal’s return provision, regardless of whether the U.S. is in the pact.
“So our right as a participant is something that exists independently of the JCPOA,” United States Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook recently told reporters. “I have been working on UN Security Council resolutions for years. This is the simple reading of the text. ”
Other Europeans indicated concern with the United States ‘approach, but were less explicit about denying the United States’ right to invoke backsliding.
“We intend to address this problem in close consultation with all members of this council, in particular the remaining JCPOA participants and other key actors,” French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said of the expiry of the arms embargo. “However, we would not support unilateral proposals leading to the return of sanctions. They will only deepen divisions in the Security Council and beyond and are unlikely to improve the situation due to nuclear non-proliferation.”
Heusgen echoed Pompeo’s concern about “the expiration of these limitations” on Iran’s ability to buy weapons, but suggested that other international import and export restrictions could hope for a compromise.
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