New American Anti-Iran Bid at UN Will Fail

President Hassan Rouhani said the United States’ new attempt to return all global sanctions against Iran through a mechanism envisioned in a United Nations resolution will certainly fail.  
“They have destroyed the bridge themselves and still think there is a bridge they can cross,” he said in a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President.ir reported. 
The US intends to trigger the return of all UN sanctions against Iran using the “snapback” mechanism foreseen in Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 
To do so, it will submit a complaint to the 15-member UNSC about Iran’s non-compliance with JCPOA, even though Washington quit the accord in 2018 and restored its own unilateral sanctions on Iran. 
In response to the US pressure, Iran has partly scaled back its JCPOA commitments as per the terms of the deal. 
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will likely travel to New York on Thursday to file the complaint, according to UN diplomats. 
“America is no longer a JCPOA participant to be able to use this mechanism and all parties have already condemned this attempt,” Rouhani said. 
It is explicitly stated in the deal that “any JCPOA participant” is entitled to use the mechanism, he stressed.
“The US, which has openly announced that it is no longer within JCPOA, said it is the worst deal ever and quit it, cannot use [the snapback mechanism].”

Standing Alone 

Washington’s resort to the JCPOA mechanism comes after its bid to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran was indefinitely rejected by the Security Council on Friday. 
“Up until the day of voting, [the US] was piling pressure on countries but could not ensure even an apparent victory,” Rouhani said. 
He thanked the 11 states who refused to vote for the US resolution as well as Russia and China who vehemently opposed it, saying “today, the US stands alone”. 
Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht-Ravanchi also described Washington’s attempt to return all sanctions on Iran as an already failed policy. 
As a result of such policies, he said, the US has grown isolated, as was exhibited at the UN Security Council where even its close allies left it alone. 
“The US must learn from the previous UNSC meeting in which it could only win the support of the Dominican Republic,” he was quoted as saying by ISNA. 
Takht-Ravanchi added that imposing pressure and various sanctions on the Iranian nation is based on the “imprudence” of White House. 
“Whatever it is, it cannot be called diplomacy,” he said.  
Once Washington submits its complaint about Iran to the UN Security Council, the body has 30 days to adopt a resolution to extend sanctions relief for Tehran or else the measures will automatically snap back. Any attempt to extend the sanctions relief would be vetoed by the US.
But diplomats say the sanctions snapback process will be tough and messy, as Russia, China and other countries in the UN Security Council challenge the legality of the US move because Washington itself is no longer complying with JCPOA.