US demands restoration of UN sanctions against Iran

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday formally notified the United Nations of its demand for all U.N. sanctions on Iran to be restored, setting off an immediate confrontation with Russia and other Security Council members who called the U.S. move illegal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered the notification to the president of the U.N. Security Council, citing significant Iranian violations of the 2015 nuclear deal, a requirement to “snap back” U.N. sanctions.

Pompeo tweeted: “The United States is determined to make sure that the Iranian regime doesn’t have the capacity to inflict even more harm on the world.”

Russian deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky shot back: “Looks like there are 2 planets. A fictional dog-eat-dog one where US pretends it can do whatever it wants without ‘cajoling’ anyone, breach and leave deals but still benefit from them, and another one where the rest of the world lives and where intl law and diplomacy reign.”

At the heart of the showdown in the U.N.’s most powerful body is President Donald Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between six global powers and Iran.

The U.S. maintains that under the Security Council resolution endorsing the agreement it retains the right as an initial party to invoke the provision to “snap back” sanctions. Russia, China, Britain, France and virtually all other council members say the Trump administration does not have the right since it is no longer a party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

The U.S. action sets the stage for a showdown that could lead to a crisis of credibility for the Security Council.

Even before Pompeo presented the council president with the notice, other members rejected the step.

In a letter presented to Indonesia’s ambassador to the U.N., Dian Triansyah Djani, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the council, Pompeo said the U.S. was notifying the body of “significant non-performance” by Iran related to the nuclear deal. As a result, Pompeo said the process leading to the re-imposition of U.N. sanctions had been initiated.

The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has reported some Iranian violations of the agreement, but Tehran says those are the result of the U.S. violating the accord by withdrawing from it and then re-imposing harsh unilateral sanctions.