Iran Sanctions Act in violation of UN Resolution 2231: Analyst

Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said that Iran would respond if the US proceeded to renew the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) which expires at the end of 2016. Iran has already warned that a possible extension of ISA would breach the 2015 nuclear accord, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).  

Kaveh Afrasiabi, author of 'Iran Nuclear Negotiations', says the US Congress has never been “a strong fan” of the Iran nuclear agreement which has been endorsed “wholeheartedly” by the international community.

“There is a bi-partisan effort to throw monkey wrenches and basically support the process that President-elect Trump in his campaign rhetoric pledged to scuttle the deal and hopefully that will not happen because such an effort by the US Congress basically complicates the process and disturbs the very delicate balance on the nuclear agreement that the US is a party to,” the analyst told Press TV.

He also said Ayatollah Khamenei’s assessment of the damages of the ISA on the nuclear agreement is correct.

He also noted the US lawmakers need to take into consideration the fact that the ISA violates the UN Resolution 2231 which calls for the formal lifting of all sanctions on Iran.

“So the Iran Sanctions Act which is a revised version of the initial Iran-Libya [Sanctions] Act which is conceived as a nuclear-related act because of the perceived threat of Iran’s weapons of mass destruction, etc. This goes beyond that deadline set by the UN resolution and therefore Iran’s Sanctions Act violates the UN resolution,” he stated.

Afrasiabi further argued that President Barack Obama must veto this bill which breaches US commitments under the term of the UN Resolution 2231.

However, he said, this is not going to happen because of “lame excuses” by some White House officials.

“There is no legal justification for the Obama administration not to put its foot down and veto this unnecessary legislation which is really just intended for propaganda purposes against Iran,” he opined.

According to the analyst, if the US wants to stick with the Iran nuclear agreement, it must continue to proceed with the important waivers in the ISA.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany started to implement the JCPOA on January 16.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related bans imposed against Tehran.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk