Russian Diplomats Warn U.S. Effort To Snap Back Iran Sanctions Could Spark Crisis in UN Security Council

May 16, 2020 (EIRNS)—On May 14, two senior Russian diplomats warned that if the U.S. should try to go through with invoking the “snap back” of UN economic sanctions on Iran, even though it left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 nuclear deal, two years ago, it could result in a serious crisis, including in the UN Security Council itself. “For the first time in history, a founding member of the United Nations openly challenged the Security Council by refusing to abide by its resolutions,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during her regular briefing. “There is no question about it. They should not get away with this, or with the legislative and executive action by the United States, undertaken as a follow-up to the memorandum I just mentioned and in violation of the JCPOA and UNSC Resolution 2231.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, speaking the same day, warned the United States that its attempt to extend an arms embargo against Iran is pessimistic and could lead to a crisis in the United Nations Security Council. “Washington would not find it easy here. However, given this stubbornness of the United States, it can be said that the next crisis is taking shape in the Security Council and in the United Nations in general, and I can agree with that conclusion,” Ryabkov said, according to TASS.