China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters the US has no right to demand the so-called“snapback” of sanctions on Iran, because Washington unilaterally abandoned the 2015 agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, known as the JCPOA, two years ago, RT reported.
“The participants of the JCPOA and the vast majority of the UN Security Council members do not believe that the US request has any legal grounds, and that the ‘snapback’ mechanism should be activated,” he said.
Zhao cited this as evidence that the position of the US is deeply unpopular, especially given that Washington “has broken its promises” by ditching the JCPOA.
"This fully shows that the unilateral position of the United States runs contrary to the broad consensus of the international community. The US’ attempt to undermine the JCPOA will not succeed," he said.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote a letter to the Security Council urging it to reinstate the sanctions on Tehran, which were lifted in accordance with the JCPOA. However, even the US’ European allies, including the UK, France and Germany, did not support this move.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the US initiatives to renew the UN Security Council’s resolutions on sanctions against Iran lack legal basis and will inevitably fail.
Sending a letter to the chairman of the UN Security Council on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif blasted the US' illegal attempts to snapback sanctions on Iran, reiterating that the US has no right to reapply provisions of terminated resolutions.
ZZ/PR
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