Iran warned the UN Security Council on Wednesday that it
would no longer be burdened with preserving a 2015 nuclear deal with world
powers as European states pushed Tehran to stick with the agreement because
there is “no credible, peaceful alternative.”
US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal last year,
inflaming tensions between Tehran and Washington that led to Iran shooting down
a US drone last week. Trump ordered retaliatory air strikes but called them off
at the last minute.
Under the deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program most UN and
western sanctions on Iran were lifted, however the United States has imposed
new sanctions that it says are designed to force Iran back to the negotiating
table.
“The US withdrawal from the JCPOA and re-imposition of its
sanctions, rendered the JCPOA almost fully ineffective,” Iran’s UN Ambassador
Majid Takht Ravanchi told the 15-member Security Council, using the acronym for
the deal’s formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“Iran alone cannot, shall not and will not take all of the
burdens any more to preserve the JCPOA,” he said.
European powers have been trying to save the deal, but Iran
has given them a deadline of July 8. It has said it is ready to go through with
a threat to enrich uranium to a higher level than permitted under the deal if
Europe cannot shield Tehran from US sanctions.
“The JCPOA is a nuclear agreement that has been working and
delivering on its goals. There is also no credible, peaceful alternative,”
European Union UN Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida warned the UN Security
Council.
The nuclear deal is endorsed in a 2015 Security Council
resolution. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reports every six months on
implementation of that resolution, which also subjects Iran to an arms embargo
and other restrictions.
MIXED SIGNALS
Acting US Ambassador to the United Nations Jonathan Cohen
described Iran’s actions as “deeply counterproductive.”
“Iran’s defiance of the Security Council and its reckless
behavior threatening peace and security globally must not be downplayed in the
name of preserving a deal that doesn’t fully cut off Iran’s path to a nuclear
weapon,” he said.
He noted that the UN resolution endorsing the nuclear deal
“provides a mechanism for the council to address significant non-performance of
Iran by its nuclear commitments.”
Under the nuclear deal there is a process culminating at the
UN Security Council that can trigger a so-called snapback of all sanctions if
Iran violates the agreement.
Iran’s UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi told reporters on
Monday: “The US is not in a position to spark snapback because they are not
part of the deal.”
French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre warned that the end
of the deal “would mean a dangerous step backwards” and urged Tehran not to
breach the deal.
Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow wanted
Iran to remain committed to the nuclear deal, but also accused the United
States of sending mixed signals.
“We hear assertions that nobody is planning regime change in
Iran and then at the same time we hear threats about obliteration and new
sanctions are being introduced, there are calls for dialogue and then in
parallel openly they declare the intention to increase military presence in the
region,” he said.
“Such signals, which even an experienced cryptologist would
struggle to decode, can only bring the situation to a point of no return,”
Nebenzia said.
