Washington’s Attempt to Restore Sanctions Will Fail

President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday declared victory against the United States ahead of Sept. 20, the date when the US claims international sanctions against Iran will be restored.
During a Cabinet meeting, Rouhani pointed to the US move to trigger a return of UN sanctions on Iran and said, “I am in advance congratulating the historic victory of the Iranian people and the humiliating defeat of the US next Saturday and Sunday,” his website reported.
On Aug. 20, the US started the clock on a 30-day process to reimpose all UN sanctions, including an arms embargo, on Iran. Washington is using a process known as snapback mechanism, agreed upon under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The US quit the international accord two years ago and launched a “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran.
Rouhani said, “Every nation in the world is aware that the right to trigger the snapback mechanism is reserved only for members of JCPOA.”
“Someone who called JCPOA ‘the worst deal ever’[and withdrew from it] … is clearly not qualified [to trigger the mechanism]. The US wants to start a conspiracy against Iranians, but it cannot even take one step,” he added.
The US argues that it remains a participant of the 2015 nuclear deal based on UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that enshrined the accord.
However, a majority of the United Nations Security Council members, including participants of the nuclear deal, have expressed opposition against the US move, describing it as void and lacking legal grounds.
Pointing to the global isolation of the US, Rouhani, said “There are only two to three countries that have stuck by the White House: the Zionist regime and two small regional countries.”
Predicting that Washington will claim success on Sept. 20, he directly addressed the American officials, “How did you succeed? You didn’t even start the process; you couldn’t even take one step.”
Before attempting to trigger the snapback mechanism, Washington unsuccessfully tried to extend Iran’s arms embargo beyond its expiration date in October based on JCPOA.
Only the US and the Dominican Republic voted “yes” to the resolution and the UN Security Council resoundingly rejected the bid. 
In addition, Rouhani denounced the US-brokered normalization deals between Israel and two regional countries, the UAE and Bahrain.
The president said, “They [Israelis] are committing crimes in Palestine every day. How could you [the UAE and Bahrain] extend your hand to Israel and then give them bases in the region?”
Noting that the move by the Arab nations was against international law, the president said, “The responsibility of the grave consequences, which will follow, rests with you.”