With the failure of the resolution, the US is now in the process of switching to unilateral snapback sanctions on Tehran – despite withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 – a potential action that has raised skepticism and alarm of allies and that experts have warned spell the end of the landmark agreement.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said in a statement Friday that the United States “has every right to take snapback of provisions of previous Security Council resolutions” and “in the coming days the United States will follow up on this commitment to nothing to stop will extend the arms embargo. “
The US only drew support for the Dominican Republic’s proposal. Russia and China opposed, while Germany, France, the United Kingdom and eight others recalled.
“The United Nations Security Council has been blamed for maintaining international peace and security. It failed to maintain its fundamental mission statement today,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Friday.
Under the terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the conventional arms embargo on Iran is legally set to expire in mid-October. For months, the Trump administration has been trying to extend the embargo, despite abandoning the deal – a campaign that was predicted to fail.
‘Unforgettable’
This week, the US submitted a resolution to the UN Security Council that would extend the existing embargo indefinitely. U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook claimed it was “a compromise text”.
“We are listening to the members of the Security Council and creating a new text that is both reasonable and necessary,” he told reporters Thursday.
“The failure of the Security Council to act decisively in defense of international peace and security is unattainable,” Pompeo said. “The United States will never leave our friends in the region who expect more from the Security Council. We will continue to work to ensure that theocratic terrorism does not have the freedom to buy and sell weapons that the heart of Europe, the Middle East and beyond. “
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the Security Council’s decision “absolutely makes the US only make all UN fines a much more likely snapback.”
“Tehran certainly regrets the failed attempt to drive the international community to pressure the Islamic Republic (of Iran),” he said.
Iranian Ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, criticized potential sanctions. “Imposition of any sanctions or restrictions on Iran by the Security Council will be strictly enforced by Iran and our options are not restricted. And the United States and any entity that may assist or procure it in its illegal conduct will bear full responsibility. , “Ravanchi said in a statement.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, claimed that “the vote on arms embargo was just a motion that the administration believed it should continue to force the UNSC to snapback sanctions on Iran, a mechanism that only parties for the JCPOA can trigger. “
He said “there is a strong case to be made, and the others (permanent members of the Security Council) will make it – that the FS snapback can not trigger, because it is no longer a participant in the JCPOA. “
‘Can’t have your cake and eat it too’
Trump administration officials have claimed that the US has the legal authority to reinstate sanctions on Iran under Security Council Resolution 2231.
“Resolution 2231 sets a fixed term, ‘participants of JCPOA,'” Hook told reporters Thursday. “This is explicitly stated by the United States in its definition. Resolution 2231 does not impose any other conditions for the qualification of states that are among the named JCPOA participants. Developments outside the four corners of Resolution 2231 do not and could not have the right of the United States does not change initiate snapback. ”
Hook said the U.S. on Thursday circulated a six-page legal memo on the matter to members of the UN Security Council.
The US position had raised eyebrows and mockery among diplomats.
European allies agreed that the potential for weapons flowing into and out of Iran posed a threat, but feared that the US would withdraw from the nuclear deal but still claim to be a participant and have the ability to snapback sanctions.
“You can not have your cake and eat it too,” said one Security Council diplomat.
China predicted at its meeting on Friday that a US attempt at snapback sanctions “is doomed to failure.”
Robert Malley, president of the International Crisis Group and former White House negotiator for the Iran deal, said that “the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign has shifted to minimal diplomacy in pursuing the same goal: Iran “Kill nuclear deal or make it much harder for Vice President (Joe) Biden to save it than he would win in November.”
Experts warn that if UN sanctions are dragged back on Iran, it could serve to destroy the nuclear deal and do even more damage to already inflated regional tensions. Tehran has reduced its obligations under the agreement, saying it will return to compliance as soon as the US returns to the treaty and lifts its unilateral sanctions against Iran.
CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette contributed to this report.
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