The US has suffered another humiliating diplomatic setback after the president of the UN security council rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to extend economic sanctions on Iran.
On Tuesday, Indonesia – which this month holds the security council’s rotating presidency – said that no further action could be taken on the US request, because there was no consensus on the 15-nation body.
The announcement prompted an angry response from Kelly Craft, the US envoy to the UN, who said: “Let me just make it really, really clear: the Trump administration has no fear in standing in limited company on this matter. I only regret that other members of this council have lost their way and now find themselves standing in the company of terrorists.”
The US claims it still has a right to intervene on the nuclear deal since the original Iran deal listed the US as a participant, and it requires only one signatory to the deal for the sanctions to be reimposed.
Pompeo said on Thursday he had triggered a 30-day process to reimpose sanctions taking the crisis into the heart of the UN general assembly, the annual UN conference addressed by heads of state.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said he hoped the United States would now drop its bid to snap back Iran sanctions, “which is not only illegal, but simply will not lead to achieving the result that was envisaged by the United States”.
Nebenzia’s deputy, Dmitry Polyanskiy, interpreted the Indonesian assessment in a Twitter post: “It means, there is NO SNAPBACK.”
The Iran deal allowed for the embargo on conventional arms sales to be lifted after five years, a deadline that expires in mid-October. The US is vehemently opposed to Tehran being able to strengthen its military, although it is not clear whether Russia or China would be willing to sell arms to Iran – or whether a cash-strapped Iran currently has the means to purchase sophisticated electronic weaponry.
The EU has its own separate arms embargo, but is working to keep alive the 2015 deal – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – partly in the hope that the deal could be revived if Trump is unsuccessful in his bid for re-election.
The UK’s acting deputy envoy, James Roscoe, said: “We do not support a move to snap back at this time, which would be incompatible with our current efforts to preserve the JCPOA … It is the UK’s opinion that the United States ceased to be a participant to the JCPOA following their withdrawal from the deal on the 8th of May 2018.”
Niger is president of the security council in September and Russia in October. Neither country is likely to adopt a different position to Indonesia so making it hard to see how the US can push the Iran issue back on to the agenda before November.
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