US' Unilateralism Undermining UNSC Authority

"US's contempt for int'l law has reached a new low," Takht Ravanchi wrote in his Twitter account.

"US is in violation of JCPOA & UNSCR 2231; deliberately misinterprets 2231 & threatens UN members—including its closest allies—for standing up to bullying," he added.

"US's unilateralism is undermining UN. Council's authority is on the line," he added.

In relevant remarks earlier this week, Iranian Vice-President for Legal Affairs Laya Joneidi stressed that given the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal and Iran’s respect for the international agreement, Washington will not be able to use the trigger mechanism against Tehran at the UN Security Council.

“If we want to refer to an agreement, we should be committed to it first or be a member of it or be an active side, the US is not under such terms vis-a-vis the nuclear deal,” Joneidi told reporters in Tehran.

She added that based on articles 10 and 11 of the UNSC 2231 resolution, the precondition for raising Iran’s issue at the UNSC is that the US should itself have remained committed to the nuclear deal.

Joneidi said that the substantive problem of the issue is that the precondition for returning the sanctions against Iran is that the country should have violated the nuclear deal before the US withdrawal but as confirmed by the UN, Tehran remained committed to it even one year after Washington’s withdrawal, adding that her country’s gradual scaling down of its undertakings was also based on the article 36 of the nuclear deal.

“We expect the UNSC to work based on a logical interpretation,” she said.

US President Donald Trump, a stern critic of the historic deal, unilaterally pulled Washington out of the JCPOA in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism in an attempt to strangle the Iranian oil trade, but to no avail since its "so-called maximum pressure policy" has failed to push Tehran to the negotiating table.

In response to the US’ unilateral move, Tehran has so far rowed back on its nuclear commitments four times in compliance with Articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA, but stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the mutual trade from the US sanctions.

Tehran has particularly been disappointed with failure of the three European signatories to the JCPOA -- Britain, France and Germany -- to protect its business interests under the deal after the United States' withdrawal.

On January 5, Iran took a final step in reducing its commitments, and said it would no longer observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry, whether concerning the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of stockpiled uranium or research and development.

Now the US has stepped up attempts aimed at extending the UN arms ban on Iran that is set to expire as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which has been endorsed by Security Council Resolution 2231.

The US first sought to extend the Iran's arms embargo in a fresh UNSC resolution in contradiction to the contents of the Resolution 2231 in two attempts within a month, but failed.

The United Nations Security Council resoundingly rejected on Friday the second US bid to extend an arms embargo on Iran, which is due to expire in October.

The resolution needed support from nine of 15 votes to pass. Eleven members abstained, including France, Germany and Britain, while the US and the Dominican Republic were the only “yes” votes.

The United States has become isolated over Iran at the Security Council following President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the multilateral Iran nuclear deal 2018.

Iran had said that the US resolution would fail to gain the required support at the Security Council, pointing out that Washington has no legal right to invoke a snapback mechanism to reinstate sanctions against Tehran under the 2015 nuclear deal that the US unilaterally left in May 2018.

In relevant remarks on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it is by no means justifiable for the US to use Dispute Resolution Mechanism with regard to UNSC Resolution 2231.

"US recourse to Dispute Resolution Mechanism in 2231 has NO LEG TO STAND ON," Zarif wrote on his Twitter page late Sunday.

"AmbJohnBolton has repeated today what he said on May 8, 2018, while National Security Advisor in the Trump administration," he noted, adding, "At least he is consistent—a trait notably absent in this US administration."

Zarif' tweet came in reaction to former US National Security Advisor John Bolton's article in Wall Street Journal where he criticized US' decision to trigger ‘snapback mechanism’ against Iran, saying, "The agreement [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]’s backers argue that Washington, having withdrawn from the deal, has no standing to invoke its provisions. They’re right. It’s too cute by half to say we’re in the nuclear deal for purposes we want but not for those we don’t."