The UN Security Council re-imposes sanctions once lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal, in a move triggered by European states unfoundedly maligning Iran’s nuclear program, while disregarding the West’s own role in undermining the accord.
The council restored the bans on Sunday at 0000 GMT. They will again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with the Islamic Republic and target the country’s defensive missile program.
The move came nearly two days after the United States and its allies predictably vetoed a draft resolution submitted by China and Russia on delaying the so-called “snapback” mechanism inside the deal that would return the bans.
The countries vetoing the measure as well as other Washington-aligned states took the move as their latest step aimed at trying to accuse the Islamic Republic of “diverting” its peaceful nuclear energy program.
Leading the decades-long drive, the allies have consistently ignored the International Atomic Energy Agency’s unexceptional failure to produce any evidence for the claims, despite its subjecting the nuclear program to its most intrusive inspections in history.
The US, itself, left the nuclear deal in 2018 in an illegal and unilateral move and once tried unsuccessfully in 2010 to trigger the “snapback” in another similarly unlawful attempt.
The European trio then reneged on their promise of returning Washington to the accord, besides suspending their trade with the Islamic Republic under American pressure.
Iran, however, would consistently engage in dialog even with Washington that most recently betrayed the diplomatic process in June by joining the Israeli regime in attacking the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
Tehran is yet to react to restoration of the sanctions, but has invariably denounced the move for its lacking any legal force, and reminding the Western allies that their own measures were responsible for the situation at hand.
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, reiterating that such attempts were “legally and procedurally flawed and therefore null and void.”
He reminded that the Western states had already forfeited any right to trigger restoration of the sanctions due to their own sheer non-commitment to the nuclear accord.
Additionally, the official called on the UN to prevent Western misuse of its mechanisms, saying “no UN resources should be allocated” to revive the sanctions committees or panels that were set up back in 2006 to enforce the economic bans.
The top diplomat, however, meanwhile, asserted that any harm inflicted on Iran as a result of the allies’ hostile measures would lead to “appropriate responses” with full responsibility falling on those who opt for confrontation rather than cooperation.