Snapback mechanism for Iran sanctions not triggered, UNSC president says

“There is no consensus in the council and thus the president is not in the position to take further action,” Djani said.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
The United Nations Security Council meets about the situation in Venezuela in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 26, 2019 (photo credit: REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI)
The United Nations Security Council meets about the situation in Venezuela in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 26, 2019
(photo credit: REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI)
The United States’ bid to reimpose sanctions against Iran by triggering a snapback mechanism has not been advanced,  the UN Security Council President and Indonesia’s UN Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani said on Tuesday, as he dismissed the move that could have ended the 2015 Iranian deal.
“There is no consensus in the council and thus the president is not in the position to take further action,” Djani told the UNSC during its monthly meeting on the Middle East.
Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had visited New York to formally request that sanctions against Tehran be reinstated, due to Iranian noncompliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
A reimposition of the 2015 UNSC sanctions would also include an arms embargo that would act to prevent the flow of arms to Iran, once a separate UNSC arms embargo on Iran is automatically lifted in October.
Thirteen of the 15 UNSC members have said that the US request is illegal since it withdrew from the 2015 Iran deal. The US has argued that as one of the five permanent UNSC members it has a right to call for the snapback.
Djani said he has not advanced the matter in light of the opposition of member states.
“It is clear for me that there is one member [the US], which has a particular position on the issues, while there are significant numbers of members who have contradicting views,” he added.
But Indonesia only holds the presidency through the end of the month, when it rotates to Niger. The UNSC president has wide latitude on this matter, particularly given that UN Secretary General-Antonio Guterres has said that it is up to member states to resolve the matter of the legality of the US request.
US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft told the UNSC members that Resolution 2231, which had lifted the sanctions and provided the snapback mechanisms, allowed the US to trigger the reinstatement of sanctions irrespective of whether it had withdrawn from the Iran deal.
“We reminded members of our right under Resolution 2231 to trigger snapback, and our firm intent to do so in the absence of courage and moral clarity by the council,” she said. “It can be no surprise that we have arrived here today.”
“Iran has defied this council’s arms embargo, fomenting conflict and murder throughout the world as it supplies weapons to proxy militias and terrorist groups,” Craft said. “History is replete of tragedies of appeasing regimes such as this one, that for decades have kept its own people under its thumb.”
Craft took issue in particular with the objections leveled against the US by Russia and China, when they asked Djani to explain how he planned to handle the US request to snap back the sanctions.
“It is Russia and China that revel in this council’s dysfunction and failure,” she said. “It is Iran that celebrates its newfound leverage over the free nations of the world. It is Hezbollah that welcomes the possibility of new, more powerful weapons to fuel their campaign of terror.”
“Let me just make it really, really clear: The Trump administration has no fear in standing in limited company on this matter, in light of the unmistakable truth guiding our actions,” Craft said. “I only regret that other members of this council have lost their way and now find themselves standing in the company of terrorists.”


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