Indonesia, as President of the Security Council, justifies this rejection by the lack of consensus among the fifteen members of the body. But the United States does not admit defeat.
On Tuesday, August 25, the United States was once again rejected by the United Nations (UN) in its desire to see international sanctions against Iran reinstated. The presidency of the Security Council, held by Indonesia, said it was “not in a position to decide on further action” to comply with the U.S. request.
During a videoconference devoted to the Middle East, the Indonesian ambassador, Dian Triansyah Djani, put forward as the main reason the lack of consensus within the supreme UN body on the approach of Washington.
In a statement Tuesday evening, the Iranian mission to the UN welcomed the rejection of the U.S. approach by “an overwhelming majority”. The American notification is “null and void, has no value and legal effect and is therefore totally inadmissible,” the statement said.
Thirteen members of the Council consider the referral “illegal”.
Following a notification last week by the United States to the UN to reinstate international sanctions against Tehran, thirteen of the fifteen members of the Security Council (not including the United States and the Dominican Republic) had written to the Indonesian presidency to reject its validity.
According to these countries, Washington, no longer part since 2018 of the nuclear agreement concluded in 2015 with Tehran, has no legal basis to trigger at the UN a return of international sanctions through this pact. This notification “did not take place for us,” a diplomat from one of the thirteen countries in question told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity. In their approach, “the United States is alone” and “their final goal is to destroy the nuclear agreement when they have already imposed [national] sanctions on Iran,” he added.
“The referral to the UN by the United States was deemed illegal by thirteen members of the Security Council. Normally the matter is closed,” added one ambassador, also on condition of anonymity.
But the United States does not admit defeat. “Under Resolution 2231,” which endorsed the 2015 nuclear agreement, “we are entitled to trigger” the return of international sanctions and keep the “firm intention to do so in the absence of courage and moral clarity of the Council,” asserted the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft.
Under the 2015 agreement, notification of violation of its commitments by Iran must in principle be followed by a draft resolution by the presidency of the Security Council. The exclusion of this option by Indonesia was welcomed Tuesday by several Council members. According to diplomats, Washington could go so far as to table its own draft resolution, opening the way to even more confusion.
Source: Le Monde
