US maliciously working to use UN itself to destroy world body: Iran FM

Iran’s foreign minister says the US is “maliciously” working to destroy the United Nations using the world body itself, as Washington steps up an unlawful push at the Security Council to get approval for a resolution on extending an arms ban against Tehran.

In an article published by Iran Daily Online on Tuesday, Zarif said that the administration of US President Donald Trump has “no grand vision for an alternative global community.”

“The US’ fickleness and unpredictability have nothing to do with masterful implementation of game theory. Rather whether it comes to its (mis)management of COVID19 at home or its undermining of peace and stability abroad, the current regime in Washington has no real plan except to frontally assault those who stand by the rule of law,” he wrote.

Zarif also referred to Washington’s May 2018 withdrawal from the Security Council-endorsed nuclear deal — named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — as an instance of Washington’s violation of international law

“Since then, Iran and the rest of the international community have been left in the extraordinary position of watching the US become the first government in UN history that not just violates a binding resolution it itself sponsored, but also punishes those governments and companies that uphold international law by implementing its provisions. As I warned the Security Council last month, this status quo is neither desirable nor sustainable. We are thus at a crossroads,” he added.

The top Iranian diplomat further denounced the US administration’s “disinformation campaign” about a JCPOA provision, which entails normalizing Iran’s defense cooperation with the world, as “a ruse to disguise its real, more malevolent motivations.”

The top diplomat was referring to stepped-up US attempts aimed at extending the UN arms ban on Iran that is slated to expire in October as part of the JCPOA, which has been endorsed by UNSC Resolution 2231.

“Having failed to collapse Resolution 2231 after over two years of the most brutal “maximum pressure” ever imposed on a nation — including depriving ordinary Iranians of access to medicines and medical equipment amid the deadliest pandemic the world has seen in many decades — the US now hopes to abuse its mal-interpretation of the provisions of the same resolution it abandoned in 2018 to finally destroy it,” he wrote.

“This deeply malicious US behavior is evident throughout the UN, where it seeks to use the UN itself to effectively destroy the world body,” the minister added.

‘Zero chance’ for US resolution on Iran arms ban as UNSC readies for vote

The UNSC is set to vote this week on a resolution proposed by the US to extend an arms ban on Iran, but experts and diplomats say there is “zero chance” for the draft to pass.

UNSC ‘faces an important decision’

 Additionally in his article, Zarif cautioned against “a generational setback for the cause of multilateralism” if the Security Council is bullied into torpedoing its own resolution, noting, “Unless all powers respect the principles which the Council was created to embody, it cannot perform its duties, nor can any nation acknowledge its authority.”

He also warned that if the US is allowed to continue on the same path, “the world will slide backwards toward a ‘might makes right’ standard.”

“While it has so far primarily been the US that has sought to expand the jurisdiction of its domestic laws, there is nothing to suggest that it will retain a monopoly on it. With the opening of this Pandora’s box and with complacency on the part of some national governments, it is not difficult to imagine a future where ordinary citizens and private enterprises alike may end up having to contend with the extra-territorial application of multiple and growing series of domestic laws—debilitating international travel, trade and investment in a retrograde step for our globalized world,” Zarif wrote.

“Thus, the international community in general — and the UN Security Council in particular — face an important decision: do we maintain respect for the rule of law, or do we return to the law of the jungle?”

The Iranian foreign minister expressed confidence that UNSC member states will refute the US push to turn the diplomatic achievement of the 21st century into a futile exercise.

“While Iran has proven its resilience and decisive response to coercive bullying, I am confident that—in the next few critical weeks and months—members of the Security Council will refute the campaign struggle of a beleaguered U.S. administration to turn what was the diplomatic achievement of the 21st Century into an exercise in futility, and in the process annihilate what is left of multilateralism and international law.”

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