UN Chief Says no Action on UN Iran Sanctions Due to 'Uncertainty'

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Saturday he cannot take any action on a US declaration that all UN sanctions on Iran had been re-imposed because “there would appear to be uncertainty” on the issue.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday evening that the US has re-imposed UN sanctions against Iran, a move expected to be effectively ignored by global allies and adversaries alike.
The latest move is the latest in the "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran -- one that has left the US largely isolated. It comes after the administration failed to extend the conventional weapons embargo set to expire next month under the Iran nuclear deal. "The United States expects all UN Member States to fully comply with their obligations to implement these measures. In addition to the arms embargo, this includes restrictions such as the ban on Iran engaging in enrichment and reprocessing-related activities, the prohibition on ballistic missile testing and development by Iran, and sanctions on the transfer of nuclear- and missile-related technologies to Iran, among others. If UN Member States fail to fulfill their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures and ensure that Iran does not reap the benefits of UN-prohibited activity," Pompeo said in a statement.

Other countries have rejected the US' argument that it could re-impose the UN sanctions that had been lifted under the Iran nuclear deal as the Trump administration withdrew from the deal in 2018. They are not expected to recognize the snapback sanctions. "In the coming days, the United States will announce a range of additional measures to strengthen implementation of UN sanctions and hold violators accountable," Pompeo said without providing additional details on those measures.

In a letter to the UN Security Council and to the UN Secretary-General, Iran urged the Council to block any attempt by the US to re-impose international sanctions. "Given that the stated objective of the United States is to completely ruin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and to that end, its strategy is to create legal complication through presenting unilateral arbitrary interpretations and pseudo-legal arguments, the Islamic Republic of Iran trusts that the members of the Security Council will, once again, reject the United States' continued attempt to abuse the Security Council's process, thus undermining the authority and credibility of the Council and the United Nations," UN Iranian Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said in the letter. He also responded to the news on Twitter, saying that "UNSC member states continue to maintain US is NOT a JCPOA participant, so its claim of "snapback" is null & void." "US is STILL in violation of JCPOA and Res 2231—swimming against int'l currents will only bring it more isolation," he tweeted.

Experts have told CNN that this unilateral effort -- which comes less than two months before the presidential election -- is unlikely to have an impact on arms sales on its own. Some say the move further alienates the US from its E3 allies -- Germany, France and the United Kingdom -- and serves to further undercut the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.

“There would appear to be uncertainty whether or not the process ... was indeed initiated and concomitantly whether or not the (sanctions) terminations ... continue in effect,” Guterres wrote in a letter to the council, seen by Reuters.

“It is not for the Secretary-General to proceed as if no such uncertainty exists,” he said.

UN officials provide administrative and technical support to the Security Council to implement its sanctions regimes and Guterres appoints independent experts to monitor implementation. He said that “pending clarification” of the status of the Iran sanctions, he would not take any action to provide that support.

Washington argues it triggered the return of sanctions - known as “snapback” - because a UN resolution that enshrines the pact still names it as a participant. Diplomats say few countries are likely to reimpose the measures lifted under the 2015 deal that aimed to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

“If UN Member States fail to fulfill their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures,” Pompeo said in a statement on Saturday. He said that in the coming days Washington would announce additional measures to strengthen the implementation of the UN sanctions and “hold violators accountable.” The United States is trying to push Iran to negotiate a new deal with Washington.

Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy responded on Twitter, “We all clearly said in August that US claims to trigger snapback are illegitimate. Is Washington deaf?” Longtime US allies Britain, France and Germany told the council on Friday that UN sanctions relief for Iran would continue and that any decision or action taken to re-impose UN sanctions “would be incapable of legal effect.”

The world community should oppose the United States’ use of sanctions to impose its will as a “bully,” or expect to face sanctions itself, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump plans to issue an executive order allowing him to impose US sanctions on anyone violating an arms embargo against Iran, which is set to expire in October, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The Trump administration says that on Saturday all United Nations sanctions on Iran have to be restored and the conventional arms embargo will no longer expire in mid-October.

“The Americans as a rule act as a bully and impose sanction... The world community should decide how to act towards bullying,” Zarif told Iranian state television hours before the US move aiming to restore UN sanctions against Iran. “As they (other countries) will face the same thing tomorrow when America takes the same action towards the Nord Stream project, as well as other projects because a bully will continue to act as a bully if he is allowed to do it once,” Zarif said. - CNN, Reuters