UN sanctions on Iran loom after vote to delay fails
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Members of the UN Security Council vote against a resolution by Russia and China to delay by six months the reimposition of sanctions on Iran on Sept 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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UNITED NATIONS - United Nations (UN) sanctions on Iran are set to be reimposed on Sept 27, Britain's UN envoy said on Sept 26 after a Russian and Chinese Security Council resolution to delay them failed, prompting Tehran to warn that the West bore responsibility for any consequences.
The decision to restore sanctions by Western powers is likely to exacerbate tensions with Tehran, which has already warned that the action would be met with a harsh response and open the door to escalation.
The Russian and Chinese push to delay the return of sanctions on Iran failed at the 15-member UN Security Council after only four countries supported their draft resolution.
"This council does not have the necessary assurance that there is a clear path to a swift diplomatic solution," Britain's envoy to the United Nations, Ms Barbara Wood, said after the vote.
"This council fulfilled the necessary steps of the snapback process set out in resolution 2231, therefore UN sanctions targeting Iranian proliferation will be reimposed this weekend," she said.
UN sanctions return on Sept 27
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told a group of journalists and analysts that Iran had no intention to leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a reaction to the revival of the UN sanctions.
"Iran will never seek nuclear weapons... We are fully prepared to be transparent about our highly enriched uranium," Mr Pezeshkian said.
All UN sanctions on Iran are due to return at 8pm Eastern Daylight Time on Sept 27 (8am Singapore time on Sept 28) after European powers, known as the E3, triggered a 30-day process accusing Tehran of violating a 2015 deal meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.
Diplomats had said the resolution to delay sanctions for six months had been unlikely to pass, after last-ditch talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany failed to break a deadlock.
Nine countries voted no, while two abstained.
Russia's deputy envoy to the UN accused the Western powers of burying the diplomatic path.
US betrayed diplomacy, E3 buried it, Iran says
"The U.S. has betrayed diplomacy, but it is the E3 which have buried it," Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the council, saying the snapback was "legally void, politically reckless and procedurally flawed."
"Diplomacy will never die, but it will be more difficult and more complicated than before," he told reporters after the Security Council meeting.
The European powers had offered to delay reinstating sanctions for up to six months to allow space for talks on a long-term deal if Iran restored access for UN nuclear inspectors
The US representative at the council said Iran had failed to address E3 concerns meaning a return of sanctions was inevitable, although she left the door open for diplomacy.
France said the return of sanctions was not the end of diplomacy.
UN sanctions would come into force immediately on Sept 27, while European Union sanctions would return next week.
Iran's economy is already struggling with crippling sanctions reimposed since 2018 after US President Donald Trump ditched the pact during his first term.
The sanctions would restore an arms embargo, a ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing, a ban on activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, a global asset freeze and travel bans on Iranian individuals and entities and would also hit its energy sector.
Addressing the UN General Assembly earlier on Sept 26, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country bombed Iran's nuclear installations with the US
"We lifted a dark cloud that could have claimed millions and millions of lives, but ladies and gentlemen, we must remain vigilant," Mr Netanyahu told the General Assembly on Sept 26.
"We must not allow Iran to rebuild its military nuclear capacities, Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium. These stockpiles must be eliminated, and tomorrow UN Security Council sanctions on Iran must be snapped back," he said. REUTERS
