US unilaterally claims UN sanctions against Iran restored

The United States declared on Saturday that all UN sanctions against Iran have been restored, a move most of the rest of the world rejects as illegal and sets the stage for an ugly showdown at the world body ahead of its annual General Assembly.

The Trump administration said that its triggering of the “snapback” mechanism in the UN Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 Iran nuclear deal had taken effect at 8pm Eastern Time. That is 30 days after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified the council that Iran failed to perform its obligations under the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “In accordance with our rights ... we initiated the snapback process to restore virtually all previously terminated UN sanctions, including the arms embargo,” Pompeo said.

The White House plans to issue an executive order on Monday spelling out how the US will enforce the restored sanctions, and the State and Treasury departments are expected to outline how foreign individuals and businesses will be penalized for violations.

But the US move faces opposition from the other 14 members of the Security Council who have vowed to ignore it. They say the US lost legal standing to invoke snapback when President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed American sanctions on Iran. The US argues it retains the right to do it as an original participant in the deal and a member of the council.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Saturday he cannot take any action on the US declaration. “There would appear to be uncertainty whether or not the process ... was indeed initiated and concomitantly whether or not the (sanctions) terminations ... continue in effect,” Guterres wrote in a letter to the council.

In a letter sent on Friday to the president of the Security Council, Britain, France and Germany — the three European participants who remain committed to the deal — said the US announcement “is incapable of having legal effect.”

“It flows from this that any decisions and actions which would be taken based on this procedure or on its possible outcome would also be incapable of having any legal effect,” they wrote.

In its own letter to the Security Council, Iran said the US move “is null and void, has no legal standing and effect and is thus completely unacceptable.”

Russia also said the US lacked legal authority. “The illegitimate initiatives and actions of the United States by definition cannot have international legal consequences for other countries,” said its foreign ministry.