TEHRAN – The new U.S. sanctions on Iran are part of Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and they will only increase U.S.’s isolation in the world, according to Alireza Miryousefi, the spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations.

“The U.S.’ ‘maximum pressure’ show, which includes new propaganda measures almost every week, has clearly failed miserably, and announcing new measures will not change this fact,” Miryousefi told Reuters in an email.

He added, “The entire world understands that these are a part of (the) next U.S. election campaign, and they are ignoring the U.S.’ preposterous claims at the UN today. It will only make (the) U.S. more isolated in world affairs.”

The spokesman’s comments come after the U.S. announced the return of “all previously terminated UN sanctions” on Iran.

“Today, the United States welcomes the return of virtually all previously terminated UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran…. Sanctions are being re-imposed on Iran pursuant to the snapback process under UN Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 2231,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on September 19.

The U.S. announcement faced strong opposition from the international community, with all parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal questioning the legality of the U.S. measure.

All Signatories to the nuclear deal – officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – said the U.S. had no legal authority to snap back all UN sanctions on Iran, because it withdrew from the deal on May 8, 2018, and thus lost the privileges envisioned in the deal, including the snapback process, which allows a participant to the JCPOA to restore all UN restrictions on Iran in case it didn’t uphold its obligations under the nuclear deal.

European signatories to the deal – Germany, France and the UK (the E3) – said in two joint statements the U.S. measure was “incapable of having legal effect.” Russia announced that UN Security Council Resolution 2231 was “unchanged,” which means that Russia didn’t recognize the U.S. announcement on the return of UN sanctions. China also opposed the return of the international restrictions, calling on the international community to end U.S.’s “farce”.

Iran celebrated the U.S. “definite defeat” at the UN.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Sunday afternoon, President Hassan Rouhani said, “With the U.S. suffering a definite defeat at the UN Security Council, September 20 will go down as a memorable day in the diplomatic history of our country.”

“Today, it must be said that the U.S. maximum pressure on Iran, politically and legally, has led to its defeat and isolation. The United States has lost to Iran three times in the past two months in a place where it thought wouldn’t be defeated but we witnessed that 13 of the 15 members of the Security Council stood up to the United States and defended the JCPOA,” Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) quoted Rouhani as saying.

Having faced a global backlash, the U.S. is now poised to unilaterally enforce the multilateral sanctions of the UN. News reports in Western media said on Sunday U.S. President Donald Trump would issue an executive order on Monday to impose sanctions on countries or parties violating the UN sanctions. Trump is also expected to impose sanctions on dozens of individuals involved in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

SM/PA