Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will on Thursday demand that crippling international sanctions be reinstated against Iran.
President Donald Trump has ordered Pompeo to travel to the United Nations Security Council in New York to deal with what is known as the ‘snapback’, a mechanism built into Iran’s nuclear deal signed by President Barack Obama in 2015 .
This would reinstate all United Nations sanctions on Iran that were lifted in exchange for sidewalks on the country’s nuclear program. The problem for Trump is that none of the other co-signatories – China, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and France – believe that the president has the power to do this because he is in the deal. 2018 withdrawn.
“The United States intends to restore virtually all previously imposed United Nations sanctions on Iran,” President Donald Trump said Wednesday. “It’s a snapback.”
The move comes after the Security Council on Friday rejected a US resolution to extend an arms embargo on Tehran. The only country out of 15 to support Washington was the Dominican Republic.
A statement from the State Department on Wednesday said: “Notification of Secretary Pompeo to the [U.N. Security] Council follows its unattainable failure last week to extend the arms embargo on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and anti – Semitism. “
The move to reopen UN sanctions has drawn criticism from China, Russia and across Europe, and even opposition from John Bolton, the former national security adviser and the notorious Iran hawk.
Supporters of the nuclear deal – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – argue that it is the best way to slow down any attempt by Iran to build nuclear weapons, and to prevent an immediate crisis.
Trump pulled the US out of May 2018, calling it “the worst deal ever negotiated” for allowing Iran a possible path to nuclear weapons in the future.
On Thursday, Iran continued to ignore US calls to halt its ballistic missile program, launching a new surface-to-surface cruise missile and ballistic missile that its defense minister said reached a range of 870 miles. The surface-to-air missile is named after Generation Qassem Soleimani, the powerful Iranian military leader who was assassinated in a U.S. airstrike in January.
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Images of the weapons were shown on state TV, with one of the models billed as “the latest Iranian cruise missile that will further strengthen Iran’s reinforcements.”
The nuclear deal is now on the verge of collapse, following the withdrawal of Trump and the ensuing Iranian restriction on its uranium stock and concentration.
Pompeo’s trip to the United Nations could also alienate Washington from the other world powers and undermine the legitimacy of the UN Security Council itself.
Under the snapback mechanism, any participant in the deal can file a complaint with the Security Council if they believe another country is guilty of “significant non-performance of obligations.”
The process can only be stopped by a Security Council vote – and the US has a veto. After 30 days, all UN sanctions previously imposed on Iran would “snap back”.
This is where things get really deep. China, Russia and signatories in Europe have already said they do not believe the US has the power to do this because it left the deal in 2018.
Bolton, a former Iraqi hawk in Trump’s administration, called the US position “too dear by half,” claiming he lost his snapback privileges when he withdrew from the deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif highlighted the former remarks of the former national security adviser.
“At least he is consistent – a trait that is particularly absent in this U.S. administration,” Zarif tweeted, adding that the U.S. “has no leg to stand on.”
Some analysts have suggested that the other countries may simply ignore the US requirements, perhaps waiting until November in the hope that by then the US sanctions enforcement mechanisms will not be able to deal with the widespread noncompliance.
Iran’s response would also be crucial. Also, it could wait until November or pull out of the deal altogether, making the final affairs infinitely complicated, even if Biden were to become president.
Pompeo told Fox News on Wednesday that the US has so far “held every nation accountable” for sanctions violations, and “we will do the same with regard to the broader UN Security Council sanctions.
“They are just wedged to this crazy nuclear deal, they are trying to cling to it,” Pompeo said of the European council members who remembered her.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Abigail Williams contributed.
