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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department in Washington, DC on September 14, 2020. File photo: Erin Scott/Pool/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday morning that UN sanctions had been restored against Iran, prompting international condemnation from members of the 2015 nuclear deal.
"Virtually all UN sanctions have returned on Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism and anti-Semitism. This includes a permanent extension of the arms embargo. This is great news for peace in the region!" Pompeo said in a tweet.
However, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said there would be no UN action against Iran due to “uncertainty” following the US declaration.
“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.
The United States on August 20 formally began the process of reactivating UN sanctions against Iran, a move deemed “illegitmate” by foreign powers due to the US withdrawal from the deal in 2018.
“The United States is initiating the restoration of virtually all UN sanctions on Iran lifted under UN Security Council Resolution 2231. This process will lead to those sanctions coming back into effect 30 days from today,” Pompeo said in August.
Washington is attempting to invoke a “snapback” mechanism described in the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that restores United Nations sanctions against Iran that were lifted under the agreement.
Pompeo’s announcement has drawn widespread criticism from other countries still part of the nuclear deal.
“We cannot support this action which is incompatible with our current efforts to support the JCPOA,” stated a joint letter from the UK, France and Germany.
"The United States took this decisive action because, in addition to Iran’s failure to perform its JCPOA commitments, the Security Council failed to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran, which had been in place for 13 years," read a statement from the US State Department.
"The Security Council’s inaction would have paved the way for Iran to buy all manner of conventional weapons on October 18," the statement read. "Fortunately for the world, the United States took responsible action to stop this from happening.
Washington will announce further measures to stop Tehran from “spreading chaos, violence and bloodshed,” Pompeo tweeted.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif over the weekend downplayed the US's announcement for the return of the UN-imposed sanctions saying: "Nothing new happens on 9/20" and described the US state secretary as being "wrong again".
"We expect the international community and all the countries in the world to stand against these reckless actions by the regime in the White House and speak in one voice," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference in Tehran on Sunday.
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