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The United States has unilaterally proclaimed that the UN sanctions against Iran were back in effect and vowed to punish those who violate them, in a move that threatens to increase Washington’s isolation but also international tensions.
“Today, the United States welcomes the return of virtually all the UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran that had ended,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
According to Mr. Pompeo, the measures “were back in effect” as of 8pm Washington DC time (1am Irish time today).
President Donald Trump’s administration also promised to “impose consequences” on any UN member state that does not comply with sanctions, despite the fact that the United States is one of the only countries in the world that it believes they are in effect.
The threat is formidable: Those that Washington deems defiant will be denied access to the US financial system and markets.
“If UN member states fail to meet their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our national authorities to impose consequences for those failures and ensure that Iran does not reap the benefits of activities prohibited by the UN,” Pompeo declared. .
He promised that measures against “violators” will be announced in the coming days.
With 45 days to go until the Nov.3 election, Trump could reveal those measures during his speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Yet the United States is almost alone on the matter: all the other major powers – China, Russia, and also Washington’s own European allies – have challenged the claim.
“Any decision or action taken to reinstate (the sanctions) would have no legal effect,” France, the UK and Germany said in a joint letter sent to the Security Council on Friday, of which AFP obtained a copy.
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, also regretted the decision.
“It is very painful to see how a great country humiliates itself like this, opposes other members of the UN Security Council in its stubborn delusion,” he tweeted.
“We all made it clear in August that America’s claims to trigger #snapback are illegitimate. Is Washington deaf?”
The Americans themselves realize that the statement is a “false claim,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said yesterday.
In mid-August, the United States suffered a resounding defeat in the UN Security Council when it tried to extend the embargo on conventional arms shipped to Tehran, which was due to expire in October.
Pompeo launched an unusually vehement attack on France, Britain, and Germany, accusing them of “siding with Iran’s ayatollahs,” and on August 20 announced the controversial “snapback,” which aimed to reinstate all sanctions against Tehran within a month. after.
The sanctions were lifted in 2015 when Iran signed an international agreement not to seek to build nuclear weapons.
But Trump said the landmark deal, brokered by his predecessor Barack Obama, was insufficient and withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018. He then renewed and even strengthened Washington’s bilateral sanctions.
At the moment, the US insists that it is still a participant in the deal it withdrew from, but only so that it can activate the rollback option.
Virtually every other member of the Security Council questions Washington’s ability to execute this legal pirouette, and the council has taken no further action.
Yet the Trump administration is acting as if international sanctions are in place, while the rest of the international community continues to act as if nothing has changed.
Washington is insisting that the arms embargo has been extended “indefinitely” and that many activities related to Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs are now subject to international sanctions.
But “I don’t see anything happening,” said a UN diplomat. “It would just be a statement. It’s like pulling a trigger and no bullets come out.”
Another diplomat deplored the “unilateral” act by the United States, saying that “Russia and China are sitting happily eating popcorn, watching” the “enormous destabilizing consequences” between Washington and their European partners.
But if the United States complied with the threat of secondary sanctions, tensions could continue to rise.
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