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With the failure of the decision, the US is now poised to transfer to unilaterally set off snapback sanctions on Tehran — regardless of having walked away from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 — a possible motion that has drawn skepticism and alarm from allies and that consultants have warned might spell the top of the landmark settlement.
US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft stated in a press release Friday the US “has every right to initiate snapback of provisions of previous Security Council resolutions” and “in the coming days, the United States will follow through on that promise to stop at nothing to extend the arms embargo.”
The US solely drew assist for the proposal from the Dominican Republic. Russia and China have been opposed whereas Germany, France, the United Kingdom and eight others abstained.
“The United Nations Security Council is charged with the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security. It failed today to uphold its fundamental mission set,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated in a press release Friday.
Under the phrases of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the standard weapons ban on Iran is legally set to expire in mid-October. For months, the Trump administration has sought to extend the embargo regardless of having exited the deal — a marketing campaign that was predicted to fail.
‘Inexcusable’
This week, the US tabled a decision within the UN Security Council that might rollover the prevailing embargo indefinitely. US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook argued it was a “a compromise text.”
“We listened to the Security Council members and created a new text that is both reasonable and necessary,” he instructed reporters Thursday.
“The Security Council’s failure to act decisively in defense of international peace and security is inexcusable,” Pompeo stated. “The United States will never abandon our friends in the region who expected more from the Security Council. We will continue to work to ensure that the theocratic terror regime does not have the freedom to purchase and sell weapons that threaten the heart of Europe, the Middle East and beyond.”
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow on the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated that the Security Council’s determination “absolutely makes the US push to unilaterally snapback all UN penalties much more likely.”
“Tehran is sure to mock the failed attempt to rally the international community to pressure the Islamic Republic (of Iran),” he stated.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht Ravanchi, criticized potential sanctions. “Imposition of any sanctions or restrictions on Iran by the Security Council will be met severely by Iran and our options are not limited. And the United States and any entity which may assist it or acquiesce in its illegal behavior, will bear the full responsibility,” Ravanchi stated in a press release.
Trita Parsi, government vice chairman of the Quincy Institute, argued that “the arms embargo vote was just a motion the administration believed it had to go through to force the UNSC to snapback sanctions on Iran, a mechanism that only parties to the JCPOA can trigger.”
He stated “there is a strong case to be made, and the other (permanent Security Council members) will make it — that the US cannot trigger snapback since it no longer is a participant in the JCPOA.”
‘Can’t have your cake and eat it too’
Trump administration officers have argued that the US has the authorized authority to re-impose sanctions on Iran beneath UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
“Resolution 2231 establishes a fixed term, ‘JCPOA participants,'” Hook instructed reporters Thursday. “That expressly includes the United States in its definition. Resolution 2231 places no other conditions on the eligibility of states that are among the named JCPOA participants. Developments beyond the four corners of Resolution 2231 did not and could not change the United States’ right to initiate snapback.”
Hook stated the US circulated a six-page authorized memo on the matter to UN Security Council members Thursday.
The US place had raised eyebrows and scorn amongst diplomats.
European allies agreed that the potential of weapons flowing out and in of Iran poses a risk, however have been livid that the US withdrew from the nuclear settlement however nonetheless claimed to be a participant and have the power to snapback sanctions.
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too,” stated one Security Council diplomat.
China predicted on the Friday assembly {that a} US try at snapback sanctions is “doomed to fail.”
Robert Malley, president of the International Crisis Group and former White House negotiator for the Iran deal, stated that “the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign is shifting to minimum diplomacy in pursuit of the same goal: to kill off the Iran nuclear deal or make it that much harder for Vice President (Joe) Biden to salvage it should he win in November.”
Experts warned that if UN sanctions are snapped again on Iran, it might serve to destroy the nuclear deal and do even additional injury to already infected regional tensions. Tehran has decreased its commitments beneath the settlement, saying it’ll return to compliance as quickly because the US returns to the treaty and lifts its unilateral sanctions in opposition to Iran.
CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette contributed to this report.
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