Zarif to Address UNSC Meeting on Resolution 2231

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is to speak at the United Nations Security Council’s online meeting on Tuesday about the UN Secretariat’s recent report on Iran’s implementation of Resolution 2231, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said. 
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reported early June that weapons used in several recent attacks were “of Iranian origin” and “may have been transferred in a manner inconsistent” with a 2015 Security Council resolution that enshrines Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 
Iran’s mission to the UN has rejected the report, saying it contained “serious flaws, inaccuracies and discrepancies”.
The report comes while the United States is pushing the 15-member council to extend an arms embargo on Iran, which is due to expire in October under the nuclear deal. 
“Continuing the arms embargo is against the terms of UNSCR 2231 and will have consequences that the US and European countries need to accept,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a regular press briefing on Monday, IRNA reported. 
Washington has already abandoned JCPOA and restored sweeping sanctions on Tehran. It has threatened to trigger the snapback of all UN sanctions on Iran, if the UN Security Council refuses to extend the arms embargo. 
“In consultations with UN Security Council members, we believe they are opposed to this process. We predict the US failure in this regard,” Mousavi said.   

European Vacillation

Council veto-powers Russia and China have already signaled their opposition to the move. European parties to the deal have not explicitly supported the move, but have expressed concern about the lifting of restrictions, saying it would have major implications for regional security and stability, and should be discussed among UNSC members and other key stakeholders. 
Mousavi expressed disapproval of the Europeans’ current stance and their vacillation over the affair.
“While they are party to JCPOA and claim they seek to preserve it, they take measures that are contrary to the nature and terms of the deal,” he said. 
France, Britain and Germany also stressed in a recent statement that the European Union’s full embargoes on conventional arms exports and missile technology, that preceded the UN embargo, will remain in force until 2023. 
“We have shown that with or without sanctions, we make no compromise on our defensive capabilities. Our current defense power was achieved despite their cruel sanctions, whether those of the UNSC or the American and European unilateral sanctions,” Mousavi said. 
He blamed Europe for being open to US exploitation and giving in to American threats. 
“We will not give up our rights, just so that the relationshiop between the US and Europe, which is that of a master and a servant, will continue,” he said.

Iranian Options 

In case the UN restrictions are extended, according to Mousavi, Iran has planned two or three measures that will be taken depending on the situation. 
He did not elaborate, but withdrawal from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been mentioned as one of Iran’s options in reaction to western pressure. 
The Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission has also submitted a bill to urge the government to stop complying voluntarily with the Additional Protocol to its Safeguards Agreement with the UN nuclear agency. 
The proposal is in response to the recent resolution adopted against the country by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors about Iran’s refusal to allow access to two sites that it suspects of past nuclear activity. 
Iran has refused to allow IAEA inspectors into those locations, arguing that the request is based on inadmissible intelligence and is made under the Additional Protocol that has not been ratified by the Iranian Parliament and is therefore non-binding. 
The bill is to be discussed in the Iranian Parliament in the presence of Zarif next week.