Security Council votes against delaying reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
The United Nations Security Council has voted against a resolution drafted by Russia and China to delay by six months the reimposition of sanctions on Iran.<\/p>\n
In a 4-9 vote, with two abstentions, world leaders on Friday opted to reimpose sanctions owing to Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. The sanctions are set to snap back as of 8pm in New York on Saturday (00:00 GMT on Sunday).<\/p>\n
Russian and Chinese diplomats pushed for the Security Council to delay the return of sanctions, but they failed to sway enough of the other members.<\/p>\n
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, also known as the E3, have accused Tehran of violating the 2015\u00a0Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal geared to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons. Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018.<\/p>\n
Iran has repeatedly denied pursuing nuclear weapons, but has affirmed its right to peacefully pursue nuclear energy.<\/p>\n
The JCPOA was signed between Iran and the world powers, including the US, in a deal that lifted sanctions in exchange for a cap on Iranian nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the imminent reimposition of UN sanctions over its nuclear programme as \u201clegally void\u201d on Friday.<\/p>\n
Araghchi told the UN Security Council that European nations\u2019 \u201cpursuit of the so-called \u2018snapback\u2019 is clear and consistent \u2014 it is legally void, politically reckless and procedurally flawed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States has betrayed diplomacy, but E3 has buried it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy ignoring facts, spreading false claims, misrepresenting Iran\u2019s peaceful programme, and blocking diplomacy, they have actively and intently paved the way for a dangerous escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018No further negotiations\u2019<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s deputy UN envoy, Dmitry Polyanskiy, told the chamber before the vote that Iran had done all it could to accommodate Europeans, but that Western powers had refused to compromise.<\/p>\n
But Jerome Bonnafont, the permanent representative of France to the UN in New York, refuted that and said Iran had not taken any serious steps to avoid the renewal of sanctions.<\/p>\n
Bonnafont added, however, that diplomacy should continue and that the reimposition of sanctions did not mean a negotiated settlement could not be reached later.<\/p>\n
Reporting from the UN, Al Jazeera\u2019s Diplomatic Editor James Bays said, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t look like there is going to be further negotiation. We had the opportunity all week here in New York for negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Bays noted that Iran knew the resumption of sanctions was likely. \u201cThe supreme leader in Iran said that he didn\u2019t think there was going to be progress and that snapback was likely \u2026 I don\u2019t think there is much more effort going into this now in terms of negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The snapback sanctions will be layered atop the already tough Western sanctions in place against Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are talking about here are all the international sanctions, all the UN sanctions that were in place before 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regional tensions escalated in June, when Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran, with Israeli and US forces striking several nuclear facilities<\/a>. The Israeli-US bombing came a day after the UN\u2019s nuclear watchdog board\u00a0ruled\u00a0<\/a>that Iran was not respecting international nuclear safeguards.<\/p>\n