Washington ready to snapback to call for return of UN sanctions against Iran

US President Donald Trump said he was ready on Saturday (August 15) to use a controversial response to unilaterally reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran, after the Security Council rejected a US resolution aimed at extend the arms embargo in Iran.

After the snub suffered by Washington, the tenant of the White House promised a response in the form of a "snapback", a mechanism which is a kind of veto right in reverse.

"We knew the outcome of the vote, but we will do a 'snapback'. You will see next week," said Donald Trump.

Critics of the US move suspect the Trump administration of wanting to achieve this controversial reimposition of UN sanctions before the November presidential election in the United States, at the risk of plunging the Council into one of the worst diplomatic crises of its history.

A possible absence of Donald Trump at the next summit 

Iran claimed victory after this rejection, which is already having repercussions on the Iranian nuclear agreement: Donald Trump will "probably not" participate in the next summit of the five permanent members of the Security Council with Iran proposed by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Poutine.

"I think we will wait until after the election," said Donald Trump, when asked about his possible participation in this summit.

Only two of the fifteen council members voted for the resolution on Friday, highlighting the divisions between Washington and its European allies since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the international Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 .

Several countries, however a priori favorable to an extension of the embargo, like the Europeans, have in fact refused to play the American game.

One voice in favor of Washington 

Tehran taunted Washington for its failure to get more than one voice of support, that of the Dominican Republic. Washington's European allies have all abstained.

For Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the United States failed to end what he called the 2015 "half-alive" agreement with the major powers that allowed Iran to escape to sanctions in exchange for a reduction in its nuclear program.

"The United States has failed in this conspiracy, humiliated," Hassan Rouhani said at a news conference broadcast on television. "In my opinion, that day will go down in the history of our country and in the history of the struggle against global arrogance."

"During the 75-year history of the United Nations, America has never been so isolated," added Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Moussavi.

Repercussions for the Iran nuclear deal 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced him a "serious mistake". "I regret that the whole world has not joined in the fight against the biggest sponsor state of terrorism to ensure that it cannot have weapons systems that present a risk, a risk to the heart of the world. 'Europe,' he said.

The @UN Security Council failed today to hold Iran accountable. It enabled the world's top state sponsor of terrorism to buy and sell deadly weapons and ignored the demands of countries in the Middle East. America will continue to work to correct this mistake.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered the decision not to renew the embargo "scandalous". "Instead of opposing arms sales, the Security Council encourages them," he lambasted.

This decision should pave the way for a long showdown with repercussions for the international agreement concluded in 2015 to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. 

The hypothesis of an American "snapback" supposes that a contested argument be validated beforehand, according to which the United States are still "participants" in the nuclear agreement, and that they can therefore force a return of sanctions if they find violations of Iranian commitments.

With AFP

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