TEHRAN - Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations, has said that the United States has no chance to trigger the snapback mechanism and restore all the UN sanctions on Iran.

“Almost, all the member states to the Security Council have announced clearly that the United States cannot be considered a participant to the JCPOA [the 2015 nuclear deal],” he told IRNA in an interview published on Monday.

He added that the U.S. is trying to say that the snapback mechanism has been launched and that it can announce on September 20 that all sanctions can be returned.

However, it is only the interpretation of the U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that all UN sanctions against Iran will be reinstated on September 20 after the U.S. “activated the snapback mechanism”. 

However, the claim was strongly denounced by other signatories of the nuclear deal including Iran, the EU, Russia, China, and non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Niger, the president of the UN Security Council for September, has reaffirmed a rejection of a U.S. complaint against Iran at the Security Council.

Chinese Mission to UN said in a tweet on September 2 that the United States cannot initiate process of reinstating UN sanctions on Iran.

“A fruitful meeting of #JCPOA Joint Commission at a critical juncture. All participants reaffirmed the importance of preserving the agreement and its full implementation. It is the common belief that US cannot initiate the process of reinstating UN sanctions under #UNSCR2231,” said the tweet.

The participants to the Joint Commission of the JCPOA met in Vienna on September 1.

Ulyanov said in August that the United States’ move to trigger snapback mechanism and return the UN sanctions on Iran go against “elementary common sense” as the U.S. is no longer a party to the JCPOA, the official name for the 2015 nuclear agreement.

NA/PA