‘It will fail anyway:’ Russia on US push to restore Iran sanctions

Russia says the United States’ attempt to force the return of all United Nations (UN) sanctions against Iran will fail, but may undermine the world body in the process.

“It will produce no result anyway, but it might eventually lead to a very serious scandal and a rift within the UN Security Council, and, in the final analysis, undermine its authority,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency on Sunday.

He called the bid “reckless,” and said, “We understand that the vast majority of nations realize the incorrectness and counter-productivity of this attempt.”

The United States is trying to invoke a “snapback” mechanism in a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran — from which Washington has withdrawn — to force the return of the UN sanctions.

The parties to the deal that the United States withdrew from in 2018 are Iran, the UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany.

The US’s withdrawal also violated Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In a long-shot attempt, however, the United States is claiming that it can invoke the deal’s stipulations because it is still “mentioned” in the resolution as a partner.

The UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany have all said they oppose the US’s gimmick.

US knocked over the head by allies as it tries to snap back Iran sanctions

The United States most prominent Western allies refuse to fall into step with Washington’s push to snap back the United Nations’ sanctions against Iran.

In addition, eight other members of the Security Council have also reportedly opposed the bid.

Foreign Minister Lavorv said what the US was trying to do had no legal basis and its argument was merely “legalistic, quasi-juridicial.”

Lavrov pointed to how Washington faced a similar defeat when it recently tried to have an arms embargo on Iran extended beyond its expiry date of October as per the JCPOA. Only the Dominican Republic backed the United States in that bid.

“We explained it all clearly to our American partners. Nevertheless, they made the decision to submit a relevant resolution,” Lavrov said.

“Generally speaking, I think they knew what the result will be, but, evidently, they wanted to send… a message about their determination to settle this matter, and would attempt to ensure the adoption of a new resolution,” the top Russian diplomat said.

According to the Russian foreign minister, neither Russia nor the other JCPOA participants see any legal, political, or moral grounds for “deriding UN Security Council’s decisions and the Council itself in such a brutal fashion.”

Washington’s attempts, he said, shows it is trying to do away with the notion of “international law” and replace it with a “rule-based order.”

“There have been many examples of this, and they are becoming more and more frequent. This is a very dangerous tendency,” Lavrov added.

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