TEHRAN – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand has said that Washington cannot trigger snapback mechanism and return United Nations sanctions on Iran.

“In my opinion, the United States does not understand that it cannot trigger the snapback mechanism unilaterally and without other sides to the JCPOA [the 2015 nuclear deal]. The United States must take action within the framework of the comprehensive deal of the JCPOA while the United States withdrew from the JCPOA,” ISNA quoted Baharvand as saying on Sunday in an interview with the London-based Al Araby TV network.

He noted that the international community will not support the U.S. move.

The United States’ efforts to extend an arms embargo on Iran ended in a humiliating defeat at the UN Security Council on Friday. 13 out of 15 members of the Council did not support Washington’s anti-Iran resolution.

Only two of the Council’s 15 members voted in favor, highlighting the division between Washington and its European allies since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear accord in May 2018.

The United States has repeatedly claimed it will invoke the “snapback” mechanism within the Security Council should its draft resolution fail to pass.

Trump said on Saturday that snapback sanctions against Iran could happen as soon as next week.

“Well we knew what the vote was going to be but we’ll be doing a snapback, you’ll be watching it next week,” CNN quoted him as saying at a news conference at his Bedminster resort in New Jersey.

Diplomats have said the U.S. would face a tough, messy battle in any such move.

In a social media post, Jarrett Blanc, a former U.S. Department of State official who had been involved with the Iran nuclear deal, warned about the consequences of Trump’s intentions.

“The cost will be a devastating loss of UNSC authority that will damage the U.S. role in the world for the foreseeable future - but the Trump Administration manifestly is not too worried about damage done to the country rather than to its own ambition,” he wrote.

NA/PA