9 May 2025
Wednesday 2 September 2020 - 14:11
Story Code : 382785

New UN council president stands by dismissal of US sanctions move on Iran

Reuters - Niger, the U.N. Security Council president for September, said on Tuesday it stands by a declaration that no further action can be taken on a U.S. bid to trigger a return of U.N. sanctions on Iran because there is no consensus in the 15-member body.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he triggered a 30-day process on Aug. 20 to reimpose all international sanctions on Iran - known as snapback - by lodging a complaint with the council accusing Iran of breaching a 2015 nuclear deal.

But Indonesia U.N. Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani, the council president for August, said that he was �not in the position to take further action� because 13 council members had expressed their opposition.

�We�re staying with this decision... that was stated and announced by the president of the Security Council last month,� said Niger U.N. Ambassador Abdou Abarry, ruling out any move to put forward a draft resolution under the snapback process to extend sanctions relief for Iran.

But Abarry noted: �Any other member state of the Security Council can do it. The United States themselves can do it.�

Washington would veto such a resolution, Pompeo posted on Twitter on Thursday, though he did not signal whether the United States would put forward such a text itself. He added that under the snapback process, �if no resolution is introduced, the sanctions on Iran will still return on September 20.�

Thirteen council members argue that Washington�s attempt to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran is void given it is using a process agreed under the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, which the United States quit in 2018.

The Dominican Republic is the only council member not to have stated a position on the U.S. move.

Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Dan Grebler
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