U.S. to restore all U.N. sanctions on Iran
The United States moved to restore all U.N. sanctions on Iran on Thursday, arguing Tehran was in violation of a nuclear deal it struck with world powers in 2015 even though Washington itself abandoned that agreement two years ago.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered the notification to the president of the U.N. Security Council, setting the stage for a showdown in the world body that could lead to a crisis of credibility for its most important and powerful institution. Even before Pompeo presented the council president with the notice, other members rejected the step.
In a letter that Pompeo presented to Indonesia’s ambassador to the U.N, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said the U.S. was notifying the body of “significant non-performance” by Iran related to the nuclear deal. As a result, Craft said the process leading to the re-imposition of U.N. sanctions had been initiated.
The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has reported some Iranian violations of the agreement, but Tehran says those are the result of the U.S. violating the accord by withdrawing from it and then re-imposing harsh unilateral sanctions.
Craft noted that the European participants in the deal had attempted to bring Iran back into compliance. But she said “despite extensive efforts and exhaustive diplomacy on the part of those member states, Iran’s significant non-performance persists.”
“As a result, the United States is left with no choice but to notify the council that Iran is in significant non-performance of its JCPOA commitments,” she wrote, using the acronym for the deal’s formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Craft’s letter was accompanied by a six-page explanation of why the U.S. believes it retains the right to invoke snapback, a mechanism afforded to participants in the nuclear accord by the Security Council resolution that enshrined the deal.
Craft’s letter was accompanied by a six-page explanation of why the U.S. believes it retains the right to invoke snapback, a mechanism afforded to participants in the nuclear accord by the Security Council resolution that enshrined the deal.
