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Nuclear agreement in Iran
image copyrightReuters
The UN Security Council has blocked a controversial bid by the US to activate the “snapback” of lifting all sanctions on Iran under a 2015 nuclear deal.
The permanent representative of Indonesia, who holds the rotating presidency, said many of the 15 member states were fighting over the move because the US withdrew from the agreement two years ago.
The US envoy accused her of “standing in the company of terrorists”.
Iran’s foreign minister said “lawless harassment” had left the US isolated.
The Trump administration tried to begin the snapback process last week, after the Security Council rejected a draft U.S. resolution that would have extended an arms embargo on Iran indefinitely by mid-October.
Under the nuclear deal, the P5 + 1 group gave world powers – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the US and Germany – Iran relief in exchange for limits on its sensitive activities to show that it did not develop nuclear weapons.
The agreement has nearly collapsed since President Donald Trump left it and reinstated US economic sanctions in 2018 in an attempt to force Iran to negotiate a replacement that would place indefinite sidewalks on its nuclear program as well. stop their development of ballistic missiles.
Iran has so far refused and has retaliated against US sanctions by rolling back a number of key commitments, including those on the production of enriched uranium, which can be used to make reactor fuel, but also nuclear warheads.
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Last Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally filed a complaint accusing Iran of “significant non-compliance” with the nuclear deal and giving other members of the Security Council 30 days to pass a resolution calling for the to stop snapback.
He stressed that Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the agreement, gave the US a legal right to do so because they were still named as participants.
image copyrightReutersBut the three European powers, China, Russia and Iran, rejected the claim.
At a virtual meeting on Tuesday, Indonesian Permanent Representative Dian Triansyah Djani announced that the Security Council was “not in a position to take further action” in response to the US request.
“It is clear to me that there is one member who holds a certain position on the issues, while there are a significant number of members who have controversial views,” he said.
The Russian envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, said he hoped the Trump administration would now drop its request, which he said “was not only illegal, but simply will not lead to the achievement of the result provided by the United States” .
But the US mission to the UN insisted that some councilors disagreed with their position “had no legal effect”.
U.S. Representative Kelly Craft reminded the council that his request came only after “the majority of this body surrendered to unimaginable action” and refused to extend the arms embargo on Iran.
“Let me just make it really, really clear: the Trump administration has no fear of standing in limited business on this issue,” she added. “I only regret that other members of this council have lost their way and now feel that they are standing in the company of terrorists.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif later tweeted: “@PPO’s lawless bullying isolates the US again … Time for @realDonaldTrump to stop listening to incipient bullying heads.”
