TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that both the U.S. and Europe cannot lecture Iran based on misreading of the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 which endorsed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Zarif said the United States has violated Resolution 2231 and Europe has obeyed Washington instead of abiding by the resolution.

“US has been bullying all against UNSC Resolution 2231 since 2017. Europe obeyed US instead of 2231. Neither can lecture Iran based on flimsy misreadings of UNSCR 2231,” Zarif tweeted.

The tweet by Zarif followed after the Unites States, France and Germany criticized Iran’s launch of a military satellite into space on April 22.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed the launch violated the Security Council resolution.
 
“I think every nation has an obligation to go to the United Nations and evaluate whether this missile launch was consistent with that Security Council resolution,” Pompeo told reporters, according to the Guardian. 

In a statement on Thursday, France also claimed the launch was in contravention of Resolution 2231 and called on Tehran to immediately cease all activities related to the development of ballistic missiles designed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Germany also said that Berlin's position on the Islamic Republic’s missile program has not changed, and the program has a destabilizing impact on the region.

In response, Foreign Minister Zarif said, “Iran neither has nukes nor missiles ‘DESIGNED to be capable of carrying’ such horrific arms.”

Zarif also posted news headlines which say the U.S., France, Britain and the Zionist regime of Israel possess nuclear weapons.

Resolution 2231 terminated the provisions of previous UN resolutions against Iran. It also “calls on” Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”

Tehran has always said it has no nuclear warheads and that none of its missiles have been designed to carry nuclear weapons.

However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, on Thursday dismissed the U.S. claim that Iran violated resolution 2231 and accused Washington of being in violation of the nuclear deal.

Addressing a news conference in Moscow on Thursday, she said that this would not be the first time that a nation (U.S.) that has "flagrantly breached the norms of international law and violated the UNSC resolution 2231". 

The 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, was endorsed by the Resolution 2231. The United States officially quit the JCPOA in May 2018 and the European countries have since failed to guarantee Iran’s benefits from the international deal.

NA/PA