UN Security Council Will Not Move on Pompeo’s Decreed Sanctions on Iran
Aug. 26, 2020 (EIRNS)—There will be no “snap back” of UN sanctions on Iran. Indonesia’s Ambassador to the UN Dian Triansyah Djani, whose country currently holds the rotating council presidency, announced yesterday, saying that he will not act on the U.S. complaint about Iran being in violation of the JCPOA and demanding the reimposition of sanctions. Council President Djani told members at the end of a virtual meeting on the Middle East on Aug. 25, “Having contacted the members and received letters from many member countries it is clear to me that there is one member which has a particular position on the issues, while there are significant numbers of members who have contesting views.”
“In my view there is no consensus in the council,” Djani said. “Thus, the president is not in the position to take further action.”
Niger takes over as Council president on Sept. 1 and since Niger’s ambassador was among the 13 out of 15 members who wrote to the president calling the U.S. action illegal, he’s not expected to act on the U.S. letter demanding action either.
Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, was beside herself with rage, which was directed at Russia and China. “Put simply: It is Russia and China that revel in this Council’s dysfunction and failure,” she said, adding the claim that Iran, Hezbollah, Maduro in Venezuela, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen are all celebrating, because now they’ll get a new flood of weapons from Iran, thus worsening all those conflicts. She also blamed the Europeans who “have expressed privately their concerns about lifting sanctions on Iran but have taken no actions to address that concern.”
“Let me just make it really, really clear: The Trump Administration has no fear in standing in limited company on this matter, in light of the unmistakable truth guiding our actions,” she concluded. “I only regret that other members of this Council have lost their way and now find themselves standing in the company of terrorists.”
Russian UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia, at whose request Djani issued his statement, was much calmer yesterday. “Today’s discussion clearly demonstrated where the Security Council members (most of them) stand on the issue,” he said. “They confirmed the paramount need to preserve the JCPOA. Preservation of the JCPOA is important for the whole international community, including for the United States. I hope that the U.S. would be able to finally realize it and not to pursue this path which is not only illegal, but it will simply not lead to achievement of the result that the U.S. envisaged.”
“My main point is to thank you for the conclusion that you made in response to our question,” Nebenzia told Djani. “I think it is a prudent step that you are taking given the positions of the Member States of the Council on the matter that we raised.”
Iran’s UN mission issued a statement saying that yesterday’s action by the security council once again indicates how isolated the U.S. is on Iran. “Iran’s position regarding the U.S. attempt is also quite clear,” it said. The U.S. letter, “including all references therein, are null and void, have no legal standing and effect and are thus completely inadmissible.”
