“Circumventing the United Nations’ 2231 Resolution, will lead the already-undermined JCPOA to be destroyed forever,” Shamkhani wrote on his Twitter early Sunday.
He lambasted the US for sticking to the “sanctions virus to save its failing hegemony.”
Questioning Europe’s real stance on the issue, Shamkhani wrote, “On which side is Europe standing; keeping face and boosting multilateralism or accepting humiliation and helping [the US’] unilateralism?”
The UN arms embargo on Iran — in place since 2006/2007- will be lifted in October 2020 — five years after the JCPOA took effect.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that Washington was considering “every possibility” to renew the ban on selling conventional arms to Iran.
“We'll work with the UN Security Council to extend that prohibition on those arms sales,” he continued.
US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said on Thursday that Washington had drafted a Security Council resolution on the issue and was “hopeful” the 15-member body will extend the arms embargo on Iran before it expires.
However, Russia and China, both parties to the JCPOA, are unlikely to allow that with their veto power.
To circumvent the veto, the US will argue that it legally remains a “participant state” in the nuclear deal only to invoke a “snapback” that would restore the UN sanctions, which had been in place against Iran prior to the JCPOA’s inking.
This is while the US unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposed the anti-Iran sanctions that had been lifted under the agreement.
MNA
Your Comment