TEHRAN - Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), said on Tuesday that the United States’ efforts to extend arms embargo on Iran are fruitless as other countries are opposed to it, adding that the “world is not tolerating bullying”.

“Fruitless efforts of the #USA to continue the #IranWeaponSanction have provoked a strong reaction from Russia, China & the confusion of US’s allies. The world is not tolerating bullying, based on free & resilient nations. The end of this path is collapse of unilateralism,” he tweeted.

The United States has stepped up calls for the extension of a UN arms embargo on Iran since April. In his with this move, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is preparing an argument that the U.S. remains a participant in the Iran nuclear accord as the U.S. name is mentioned in the UN Security Council endorsing the nuclear deal.

This is while President Trump officially proclaimed the U.S. withdraw from the nuclear deal in May 2018. 

The Trump administration has threatened that it may seek to trigger a snapback of all sanctions on Iran if its attempts to extend the arms embargo fail.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on May 5 that Pompeo pretends UNSCR 2231 is independent of the JCPOA, noting that the JCPOA is “PART of 2231”. Zarif advised Pompeo to read UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that has endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Prior to this tweet, Zarif called on Pompeo to “stop dreaming”.

Iran has threatened that it may suspend its membership to the NPT if the UN sanctions are returned.

“It is definitely a legal charade to claim any right out of the U.S. name in a UNSC resolution,” Kourosh Ahmadi tells the Tehran Times in an exclusive interview earlier this month.

China has said the United States has “no right” to extend arms embargo on Iran “let alone to trigger” a return of all UN sanctions on Tehran.

“It has no right to extend an arms embargo on Iran, let alone to trigger snapback,” China’s UN mission wrote in a tweet on Thursday.

“Maintaining [the] Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the only right way moving forward,” it added.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday that no country is allowed to implement the United Nations Security Council resolutions selectively,

Ryabok was openly referring to Resolution 2231 that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal but violated it by quitting the JCPOA, the official name for the nuclear pact.
 
“No one is allowed to implement UN Security Council resolutions selectively and extremely fragmentarily,” Ryabkov told the Valdai discussion club, the UrduPoint News reported.

The actions of the United States to extend the arms embargo and launch the process of returning sanctions against Iran are “cynical” and could lead to a crisis in the UN Security Council, the top Russian diplomat said.

“In this situation, it is cynical to push for the activation of the snapback mechanism [return of sanctions], which is laid down in this resolution,” Ryabkov said.

“Washington will not have an easy road here in any case. Although the conclusion is that the next crisis in the UN Security Council and the UN as a whole is imminent, taking into account this U.S. stubbornness. Of course, I can agree with this conclusion,” he said.

Ryabkov noted that it was the United States that had left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action two years ago, and now they are “in a state of gross violation of UN Security Council resolution [2231].”

Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya has said that the U.S. cannot demand the extension of arms embargo against Tehran since it is no more a party to the nuclear deal.

“I do not see any reasons why arms embargo should be imposed on Iran,” TASS quoted him as saying on May 13 in a press conference.

The high-ranking diplomat noted that exactly two years ago the U.S. “proudly announced” that it is abandoning the JCPOA and closed the door behind.

“Now they knock on that door and say ‘just wait for a second, we forgot to do one little thing on the JCPOA. Let us back, we will do it and leave again’. This is ridiculous,” Nebenzya said.

China has also said the U.S. has “no right” to extend arms embargo on Iran “let alone to trigger” a return of all UN sanctions on Tehran.

“It has no right to extend an arms embargo on Iran, let alone to trigger snapback,” China’s UN mission wrote in a tweet on Thursday.

“Maintaining [the] Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the only right way moving forward,” it added.

NA/PA