TEHRAN - Saeed Khatibzadeh, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday that the U.S. has suffered a “historic defeat” at the UN Security Council, a day after the Council president, Indonesia, refused to take action in line with the U.S. demand for the restoration of international sanctions on Iran.

“Last night, the U.S. once again suffered another historic defeat at the UN Security Council’s meeting,” the spokesman told the IRIB news agency on Wednesday.

His remarks come after Indonesia’s UN ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani, council president for August, dismissed the U.S. request for a return of all UN sanctions on Iran.

According to a Sputnik report, Djani said, “There is no consensus in the Council. Thus, the president is not in the position to take further action.”

The Indonesian ambassador was responding to a question from Russian and Chinese ambassadors to the UN on the U.S. measure regarding what came to be known as the “snapback process”, a mechanism built into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to allow parties to the deal to snapback all UN sanctions on Iran in case it failed to uphold its obligations under the nuclear deal. 

On August 14, the U.S. put forward a resolution calling for the extension of a UN arms embargo on Iran. The resolution was resoundingly rejected by the Security Council. Thirteen of the 15-member body abstained from voting. Only the Dominican Republic joined the U.S. in voting yes. Russia and China opposed. 

Nearly a week after its resolution was rejected, the U.S. submitted a “notification” to the Security Council in a bid to restore the international sanctions on Iran, a move that was met with firm opposition from countries on the Security Council. They rejected with one voice the U.S. move, saying the U.S. had no legal authority to trigger the snapback process because it has withdrawn from the JCPOA.

“The U.S.’s request on August 14 for the extension of the arms embargo on the Islamic Republic of Iran was met with opposition from the Security Council’s members. And on August 20, the U.S. effort to circulate a declaration on Iran was also met opposition from the Council’s members,” Khatibzadeh said.

He added, “Perhaps, it marks the first time in the history of the Security Council that, in less than 10 days, a permanent member of the Council hears a ‘big no’.”

The spokesman went further to say, “The Security Council president formally declared for the first time that the U.S. had basically no authority to circulate such a declaration among the members. The Security Council president’s statement that the U.S. request is null and void will have many legal consequences.”

“Since last night, the U.S. is so angry and furious that its ambassador the UN has attack even the U.S. European allies and called them partners of Iran. What happened last night marks the eighth or ninth U.S. defeat over the past few months,” the spokesman asserted.

SM/PA