Washington says it has triggered a return of all UN sanctions on Iran, which would take effect this weekend.

But the remaining parties to the nuclear deal - Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia - and most of the UN Security Council have said they do not believe the United States can reimpose the UN sanctions on Iran.

“It’s like pulling a trigger and no bullet comes out,” a senior UN Security Council diplomat said on condition of anonymity, Reuters reported. “There will be no snapback, the sanctions will remain suspended, the JCPOA (nuclear deal) will remain in place.”

Asked if Washington is “making concrete plans now for secondary sanctions” to enforce the arms embargo on Iran, U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran Elliott Abrams told reporters: “We are, in many ways, and we will have some announcements over the weekend and more announcements on Monday and then subsequent days next week.”

Diplomats say few nations are likely to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran.

Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters, “We’ll do all the things we need to do to ensure that those sanctions are enforced.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday described the opposition to Washington as a “victory of the Iranian nation and the disgraceful defeat of the United States in activation of the snapback mechanism.”

In 2018 U.S. President Donald Trump quit the Iran nuclear deal - under which Tehran limited its nuclear activities in return for termination of sanctions - and reimposed U.S. sanctions. 

In response to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who has said UN sanctions will be reimposed on Iran on September 20, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif asserted that no sanctions will be reinstated on that day.

Pompeo has said many times that, no matter what members of the UN Security Council would do, the international sanctions will return on September 20.

Zarif said Pompeo was wrong to think that the UN sanctions on Iran would be reimposed on September 20.

“Wrong again, Pompeo. Nothing new happens on 9/20. Just read Resolution 2231. Bolton—who convinced the boss to order you to ‘CEASE U.S. participation’—did. In his words: Process is not ‘simple’, automatic, or snappy. But intentionally ‘complex & lengthy’. U.S. is NOT a participant,” Zarif tweeted on Thursday.

SM/PA