UN Security Council Refused Reimposing Sanctions against Iran

US Permanent Representative to the UN Kelly Kraft expressed regret "that other members of this Council got confused and now found themselves in the terrorists’ company." The President of the UN Security Council said on Tuesday that the 15-nation Council has no consensus on reimposing international sanctions against Iran and that it will not take further action to do so, as the US insists. “It’s obvious to me that there is one state that takes a certain position on this issue, while there is a significant number of [UNSC] members who hold opposite views,” said UNSC President, Permanent Representative of Indonesia Diane Trianssiah Jani. In my opinion, there is no consensus in the Security Council. Thus, the chairman is unable to take further action.” State Secretary of Mike Pompeo arrived in New York last week and personally notified the United Nations that the United States was launching a mechanism in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution that secured the 2015 nuclear deal in international law and would roll back sanctions against Iran. Meanwhile, other parties to the deal were immediately outraged, saying that the United States withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018 and therefore waived its right to initiate any processes in the agreement. Washington rejects this interpretation, stating that the United States can renew the sanctions, being one of the states that supported the relevant UN Security Council resolution. On August 14, the United States submitted to a vote in the UN Security Council a resolution to extend the arms embargo to Iran, which, according to the terms of the JCPOA, expires on October 18. This initiative failed, since only one member of the UN Security Council, the Dominican Republic, supported the resolution. The Trump administration then initiated a "rollback" to reintroduce the embargo and a number of other sanctions. On Tuesday, US Permanent Representative to the UN, Kelly Kraft said that she regretted "other members of this Council got confused and now found themselves in the terrorists’ company." German Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Gunter Sautter, said that "the nuclear deal with Iran is not an ideal one but it continues to be the best tool for international community to prevent the nuclear arms race in the Middle East." Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya expressed hope that the current Security Council decision will lead to the US refraining from further steps to initiate reimposing UN sanctions against Tehran. The rest of the JCPOA members urged Iran to adhere to their undertakings as soon as possible.