TEHRAN – Foreign ministers of the Group of 77 (G-77) along with China issued a detailed statement at United Nations headquarters in New York on September 27 reaffirming their support for the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and its negotiating partners, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and the European Union, saying the deal exemplifies a “concrete case of a successful multilateral action for resolving outstanding global issues.” 

The nuclear deal, officially called that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is endorsed by the UN Security Council resolution 2231. According to the JCPOA, Iran is obligated to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions. 

However, in May 2018 U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the multilateral agreement and ordered restoration of previous sanctions. In May 2019, the U.S. also announced a total ban on Iran’s oil export. Trump himself has called sanctions on Iran an “economic war”.

“The ministers reaffirmed the importance of supporting and strengthening multilateralism, and, in this regard, recognized that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the other parties is a concrete case of a successful multilateral action for resolving outstanding global issues, stressed that such model sets a real example for further accelerating the achievement of sustainable development including by strengthening international co-operation, through enhanced means of implementation,” the statement by the G-77 said.

The G-77 also slammed sanctions, particularly “unilateral sanctions”, against other countries, saying it is detrimental to economic and social development and kill chances of dialogue between countries. 

“The ministers reaffirmed that the imposition of coercive economic measures, including unilateral sanctions, against developing countries does not contribute to economic and social development, including dialogue and understanding among countries,” the statement added.

The Trump administration has threatened to punish any country that trades with Iran, a move which has been interpreted as an “extraterritorial” implementation of sanctions. 
The Group of 77 said such “coercive economic measures” by the United States “undermine the principles enshrined in the Charter of the UN and international law” and “severely threaten the freedom of trade and investment.”

The group called on the international community to resist such measures by the Trump administration.

“The ministers reaffirmed their firm rejection of the imposition of laws and regulations with extraterritorial impact and all other forms of coercive economic measures, including unilateral sanctions, against developing countries and reiterated the urgent need to eliminate them immediately. They emphasized that such actions not only undermine the principles enshrined in the Charter of the UN and international law but also severely threaten the freedom of trade and investment. The Ministers therefore called upon the international community to adopt urgent and effective measures to eliminate the use of unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries.”

In their statement they also “reviewed the world economic situation, the recent developments in the world and the particular challenges faced by developing countries in the economic, social and environmental areas.”