FM Zarif: US not JCPOA participant anymore, can’t return Iran sanctions on 9/20

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says despite recent remarks by the US secretary of state, Washington cannot re-impose the UN sanctions on Tehran on September 20 -- which is one month after the US demanded activation of a sanctions snapback mechanism inside the Iran nuclear deal -- because the US is not a party to the agreement anymore.

Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the US would return to the UN to have the sanctions re-imposed on Iran next week.

The US would also do all it needed to make sure those sanctions are enforced, Pompeo said at a press conference in Washington with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

On August 20, Pompeo had formally notified the United Nations of Washington’s demand for all the UN Security Council sanctions on Iran to be restored, citing what he claimed to be Iranian violations of the nuclear deal. Tehran clinched the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with six world powers, including the US, in 2015, but Washington left the agreement under President Donald Trump three years later.

In reaction to the notification that was being handed to the UN Secretariat by Pompeo himself, the remaining signatories to the deal, however, maintained that Washington could not initiate the mechanism because it had left the accord.

Rouhani congratulates Iranians on assured victory against US over sanctions snapback

President Hassan Rouhani congratulates the Iranian nation on upcoming victory against the US concerning Washington’s failure to trigger the so-called snapback provision in the 2015 nuclear deal aimed at reinstating all UN sanctions against Tehran.

This was not the first time that the US was failing to rally the international community behind Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy on Iran.

On August 14, the Security Council had also rejected a US-drafted resolution to extend an arms embargo on Iran that is due to expire in October under the JCPOA.

UN Security Council rejects US resolution to extend Iran arms embargo

The United Nations Security Council has rejected a US resolution to extend an arms embargo on Iran that is due to expire in October.

In his Thursday tweet, Zarif once again took issue with the US’ efforts to restore the UN sanctions, despite its having lost the right to do so after ditching the JCPOA.

Referring to the latest self-assertive remarks by his American counterpart that the bans would come back into force later in September, Zarif said, “Wrong again, @SecPompeo. Nothing new happens on 9/20.”

“Just 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿 Res.2231,” Zarif added, referring to the Security Council resolution that has endorsed the JCPOA.

Wrong again, @SecPompeo.
Nothing new happens on 9/20
Just 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿 Res.2231
Bolton—who convinced the boss to order you to “CEASE US participation”—did.
In his words:
-Process is not "simple", automatic or snappy. But intentionally "complex & lengthy"
-US is 𝙉𝙊𝙏 a participant. pic.twitter.com/r01YWdV0hp

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) September 17, 2020

He then reminded Pompeo that even the US’ former national security advisor John Bolton, the most aggressive Iran hawk who himself convinced Trump to quit the nuclear deal, was better versed in the implications of Washington’s withdrawal and its potential bid to return the UN sanctions.

“Bolton—who convinced the boss to order you to “CEASE US participation”—did [read the resolution],” Zarif’s tweet read.

The tweet also affixed excerpts of an August article by Bolton, in which he clearly noted that the attempt at snapback was “legally incorrect,” well guarded against inside the resolution, and could even “backfire on the US.”

“In his words: -Process is not ‘simple,’ automatic or snappy. But intentionally ‘complex & lengthy,’” Zarif cited Bolton as saying in the article, and repeated, “US is 𝙉𝙊𝙏 a participant [in the JCPOA].”

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