Iran Press/commentary: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his Twitter account on Friday: "After thrice being rejected by United Nations Security Council, US now threatens "sanctioning anyone and any entity that comes between the US and "its so-called snapback".
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Twitter on Thursday that UN sanctions against Iran would be reinstated from September 20, 2020, despite the Security Council's opposition to the White House anti-Iran resolution.
The US Secretary of State's stance came after the recent failure of the US anti-Iran resolution draft to extend arms embargo on Iran as a result of Iran's diplomatic power in consulting with members of the UN Security Council.
Furthermore, thirteen members of the Security Council, along with the head of this important UN body, emphasized that the United States has no legal ground to invoke UN Security Council Resolution 2231 because the US is no longer a member of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Given the withdrawal of the US from JCPOA and the strong opposition of members of the Security Council against the US' request for the return of UN sanctions against Iran, the US is not in a legal position to reinstate sanctions.
Also, Russia’s permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on Friday the US approach is purely adventurous, and the US proposal for snapback on Iran has no prospects and will not have legal consequences.
With the withdrawal of JCPOA, the US has no position in the political and legal spheres to pursue its coercive policies against Iran, using Security Council Resolution 2231, and the only result of its policy is mocking the Security Council.
The maximum rejection of the US policies following its three efforts to extend sanctions on Iran marks the culmination of US political isolation in international arena. The US Democrat Senator Chris Murphy believes that the failure of the US plan to impose sanctions on Iran is a catastrophic failure for the country in the world.
Legally, the United States, by withdrawing from JCPOA, cannot use UN Security Council Resolution 2231 to gain the consensus of the international community to reinstate the UN sanctions against Iran, because JCPOA is an annex to Resolution 2231 and the United States has violated the UN Security Council resolution.
The US insistence to invoke Resolution 2231 and activating the snapback mechanism to reinstate the UN sanctions against Iran is an insistence on the destructive approach of unilateralism that will have global consequences and affect the legal status and future of the UN Security Council.
The attempt of the EU and China to set an example for multilateralism is a clear example of Europe's weariness as an ally of the United States and China as a world power.
Author: Ali Karami
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