Iran’s UN Envoy:

U.S. Has No Right to Trigger Snapback Mechanism

Date: 01 September 2020 - 21:34

News ID: ۸۲۳۴۰

TEHRAN (Dispatches) - Iran’s permanent ambassador to the UN Majid Takht-e Ravanchi says the United States is not eligible to use the Iran nuclear deal’s snapback mechanism to restore sanctions against the country since Washington has formally withdrawn from the multilateral accord.
Addressing a meeting of the UN General Assembly on Monday, Takht-e Ravanchi said the majority of Security Council members transparently reaffirmed their stances against Washington’s push to resort to the so-called snapback provision in the 2015 nuclear deal — officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — during a recent session.
The Assembly meeting was held to review the annual report of the Security Council.
The Iranian official further said the legal arguments presented by Security Council members as well as the conclusion subsequently offered by the Council’s president were unambiguous and rock-solid: the US is in position to initiate anything in the Council.
"Following its withdrawal from the JCPOA, the U.S. is not a "JCPOA participant, and has no right to initiate a process to re-impose the Council’s sanctions,” he said, adding that the latest push is and will be void of any legal effect.
During the meeting, Takht-e Ravanchi also called on the Security Council and its members to adhere to their commitments, criticizing the highest UN body for remaining silent on US crimes.
He pointed to the U.S. violations of Iran’s territorial waters and airspace in 2019, saying that "This country continued its adventures against Iran to the extent that regional anti-terrorist heroes, like Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, were assassinated” upon the direct order of U.S. President Donald Trump in "gross violation of the charter of the United Nations and international law, while the Security Council remained silent.”
He further criticized the U.S. for its earlier attempts to extend the UN arms embargo against Iran in violation of the UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Iranian

Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi said that the participants of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action should stand up to the U.S. unilateralism.
Due to simultaneity with the U.S. attempts to restore previous UN resolutions to annihilate the JCPOA, the Joint Commission meeting is of special importance, said Araqchi, who is on a visit to Vienna to take part in the 16th meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission.
Referring to the fact that the UNSC members opposed the U.S. draft resolution to invoke snapback clause of the JCPOA, he said that the U.S. attempts will definitely be an important discussion in the meeting.
He expressed hope that the Commission will be able to reach a unanimous stance and make decisions regarding the way to deal with the U.S. attempts to annihilate the JCPOA.
Araqchi arrived in Vienna on Monday and has had some bilateral meetings so far and is scheduled to hold meeting with Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi.
He met with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg on Monday and discussed the necessity to safeguard the JCPOA.