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TEHRAN: Iran said on Sunday (September 20) that its arch nemesis the United States faces “maximum isolation” after major powers dismissed a unilateral US declaration that UN sanctions against Tehran were back in effect.
Washington said the sanctions had been reactivated under the “rollback” mechanism in a landmark 2015 nuclear treaty, even though Washington had withdrawn from the deal.
While other signatories question whether the measure has any legal effect, Washington threatened to “impose consequences” on states that did not comply.
But Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said a concerted campaign by Washington to pressure Tehran had failed.
“We can say that the ‘maximum pressure’ of the United States against Iran, in its political and legal aspect, has become the maximum isolation of the United States,” he said at a televised cabinet meeting.
The sanctions in question were lifted when Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) and Germany signed the 2015 treaty on Iran’s nuclear program, known as the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan.
But President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA in 2018, saying the deal, brokered by his predecessor Barack Obama, was insufficient.
He also stepped up Washington’s own sanctions as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic republic.
The United States insists that it continues to participate in the agreement, but only to be able to activate the snapback option, which it announced on August 20.
Virtually every other member of the UNSC questions Washington’s ability to execute this legal pirouette, and the UN body has not gone any further.
‘NO LEGAL EFFECT’
On Sunday, France, Germany and Britain issued a joint statement saying that Washington’s “alleged notification” was “incapable of having any legal effect.”
Russia also said Washington’s “illegitimate initiative and actions” could not have “international legal consequences” for others.
China’s mission to the UN tweeted that the US move “had no legal, political or practical effect,” adding that it was “time to end the US political drama.”
Rouhani thanked UNSC members who had “opposed the illegal US request” and said that if the remaining signatories allowed Iran to access the economic benefits of the deal, Iran would reinstate the nuclear commitments it had abandoned in response to the withdrawal from the United States.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, announcing the move, said Saturday that the United States “welcomes the return of virtually all UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran that have now ended.”
He said the US authorities were prepared to impose “consequences” against states that “do not comply with their obligations to implement these sanctions,” with measures to be announced in the coming days.
With about six weeks to go until the US presidential election, Trump could reveal those measures in a speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Iran’s foreign minister accused Pompeo of “threatening to punish a world that refuses to live in its parallel universe.”
“The world says Security Council sanctions have NOT been reinstated,” Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Washington, by abandoning the nuclear deal, had “explicitly denied itself any right” to use the “snapback” mechanism.
He also warned that if the United States “acts on these threats, directly or with the cooperation of a handful of its puppets, it will face a serious response and will be held responsible for all the dangerous consequences.”
‘NOTHING WORSE’
The United States had already suffered a resounding defeat in the Security Council in mid-August when it tried to extend an embargo on deliveries of conventional arms to Tehran, which was due to expire in October.
Pompeo responded with an unusually vehement attack on Britain, France and Germany, accusing them of “siding with the ayatollahs of Iran,” before announcing the snapback.
In Washington’s eyes, his move has now extended the embargo “indefinitely” and reactivated international sanctions on many activities related to Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Zarif accused Pompeo of not having read UN resolutions or the nuclear deal.
“I’m probably now waiting for the movie to come out so I can start to understand it,” he told state television.
On the streets of Tehran, Iranians complained about tough economic conditions that they attributed to the US sanctions.
“It’s really difficult for people right now. Whether sanctions are reimposed or not, we are living with the greatest difficulty,” said Leila Zanganeh, a martial arts instructor.
But Danial Namei, an architect, seemed to care little about returning UN sanctions and doubted things could get worse.
“We have been through difficult things and it is still ongoing. There is nothing worse than the worst after all,” he said.
