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Iran sanctions: UN secretary general says 'uncertainty' over US snapback means he cannot act European trio warns US move to reimpose Iran sanctions is legally void
(about 4 hours later)
Antonio Guterres tells security council that it is ‘not clear’ whether US reimposition of sanctions on Tehran applies France, Germany and UK says Washington does not have the authority, setting up clash
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has told the security council he cannot take any action on a US declaration that all UN sanctions on Iran had been reimposed because “there would appear to be uncertainty” on the issue. European leaders have warned the US that its claim to have the authority to reimpose sweeping UN-mandated sanctions on Iran has no effect in law, setting up a major legal clash that could lead to Washington imposing sanctions on its European allies.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said last month that he had triggered a 30-day process at the council that would lead to the return of UN sanctions on Iran on Saturday evening. He would also stop a conventional arms embargo on Tehran from expiring on 18 October. In a joint statement on Sunday, France, Germany and the UK (E3) said any attempt by the US to impose its own sanctions on countries not complying with the reimposed UN ones was also legally void.
But 13 of the 15 security council members say Washington’s move is void because Pompeo used a mechanism agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which the US quit in 2018. On Saturday, the US moved to reinstate a range of UN sanctions against Iran, saying it had the authority to do so as an original signatory of the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA), the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and other major powers.
“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 other signatories claim the US left the JCPOA in 2018 and therefore no longer has a unilateral legal right to either declare Iran in breach of the agreement or to reimpose sanctions in the name of the UN.
“It is not for the secretary-general to proceed as if no such uncertainty exists,” he said. The dispute leaves the US at loggerheads with much of the world on whether UN sanctions have been reimposed.
Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, meanwhile said that the imminent reimposition of UN sanctions against Tehran was a “false claim” by Washington that it knows will not happen. The disagreement is not just a legal wrangle since the Trump administration claims the US now has the authority to act against any country breaching the reimposed sanctions.
Speaking on state television on Saturday, Zarif said there was not mechanism for the US to enforce its controversial “snapback”, and warned that other countries would be subjected to the same treatment if they did not resist America’s move. The US also claims the scheduled lifting of the UN embargo on arms sales to Iran in October is null and void. There is also a risk that the US will claim it has a new mandate to interdict Iranian shipping, a move that could lead to a naval clash in the Persian Gulf.
“The Americans claim that ... within a few hours, the resolutions [sanctions] will return. But they themselves realise that this is a false claim,” Zarif said. In a joint statement, the E3 said: “The United States of America ceased to be a participant in the JCPOA following their withdrawal from the agreement on 8 May, 2018. Consequently, the notification received from the United States and transmitted to the member states of the [UN] security council, has no legal effect. It follows that any decision or action which would be taken on the basis of this procedure or its outcome have no legal effect.
“The Americans as a rule act as a bully and impose sanction ... The world community should decide how to act towards bullying,” Zarif said, hours before the US move was due to take effect. “Our goal remains to preserve the authority and integrity of the United Nations security council. The E3s remain committed to fully implementing security council resolution 2231, which endorsed the JCPOA in 2015. We have worked tirelessly to preserve the nuclear deal and we remain committed to continuing to do so.”
“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. The US and many European countries oppose the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which they say will increase Europe’s reliance on Russian gas. Josep Borrell, the EU foreign affairs chief, said the JCPOA was “a key pillar of the architecture of the world system of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and by comprehensively addressing Iran’s nuclear programme, it contributes to regional and global security”.
Washington currently insists it is still a participant to the 2015 agreement, even though it left, so it can activate the “snapback” option. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the legal uncertainty surrounding the US claim meant it was not possible to declare that UN sanctions had been reimposed.
“The Americans claim that ... within a few hours, the resolutions (sanctions) will return. But they themselves realise that this is a false claim,” Zarif said. The E3 have already sent a letter to the security council challenging the US right to reimpose sanctions unilaterally in the name of the UN.
The US knows that UN sanctions will not return “so they have resorted to bullying, and said they will sanction anyone who sells weapons to Iran”. Washington’s threats have led to a predictably fierce response from Iran, as well as claims by the the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, that the US is diplomatically isolated from the rest of the security council. The head of the Revolutionary Guards warned the US that Iran was capable of setting fire to all US bases in the Persian Gulf “at once”, according to an interview on state TV.
Zarif stressed that “there is no thing called ‘snapback’. There is no automatic mode. It’s not like anyone who’s had a fight with their mother can up and create a ‘snapback’ mechanism.” Maj Gen Hossein Salamisaid the US army was “exhausted” and did not have the power to start a ground war with Iran. “Even if the snapback [in sanctions] is performed, it will fire blank shots,” Salami said late on Saturday. “We will go ahead and take our actions if our rights are not fulfilled within the nuclear deal. We’re not afraid of bluffs, threats and intimidations.”
In mid-August, the US suffered a resounding defeat at the UN security council when it tried to “indefinitely” extend the arms embargo on Tehran that starts to expire in October. In practice Iran has acted relatively cautiously and may want to avoid a military clash with Washington before the US presidential elections.
Pompeo at the time accused allies Britain, France and Germany of “siding with Iran’s ayatollahs” when they refused to extend the embargo. On Saturday, he said Washington would impose “consequences” on those who failed to observe sanctions. Earlier on Saturday the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said the US had reimposed UN sanctions and expected “all UN member states to fully comply with their obligations to implement these measures”.
“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. Pompeo added that he would shortly announce additional measures to strengthen implementation of UN sanctions and hold violators accountable. The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, met with the Pompeo in Washington last week to gauge the kind of actions the US was likely to take to enforce its interpretations of the law.
He said that in the coming days Washington would announce additional measures to strengthen the implementation of the UN sanctions and “hold violators accountable”. Iran claims it is not in breach of the JCPOA since it has continued to give the UN weapons inspectors access to its sites even though it acknowledges its stockpile of enriched uranium are above the levels set out in the agreement.