TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Friday that the United States will never realize its “illegal demand” from the UN Security Council to activate the snapback mechanism.

“This is while the United States has no status to take such action which is contrary to international law and terms of the 2231 resolution. It [the U.S.] has just presented a demand to the rotating presidency of the Security Council,” Khatibzadeh said in a statement.

He noted that all the signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, have rejected the U.S. status to take such action, noting that Washington has become totally isolated.

“All the remaining parties to the JCPOA, three European countries of Germany, France, and England and also Russia and China, have strongly opposed the United States’ illegal and unfounded demand and have informed the president of the Security Council. Other members of the Security Council will adopt similar position in the coming days,” he said.

Elsewhere, Khatibzadeh said that the U.S. seeks to continue economic terrorism and psychological warfare against Iran.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump formally notified the United Nations on Thursday that it wants all UN sanctions on Iran restored.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered the notification to the president of the UN Security Council, and later told reporters the U.S. had the right to reimpose sanctions under UN resolution 2231 which endorses the JCPOA. 

The U.S. withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018.

Iran's Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Thursday the U.S. letter was “inadmissible”.

Dmitry Polyansky, a Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, condemned the U.S. move on Twitter.

Germany, France, and the UK also rejected the move and stressed their continuing support for the nuclear agreement.

NA/PA