Iran says UN Security Council damages diplomacy after voting against sanctions relief

Iran’s envoy says the United Nations Security Council’s decision not to permanently lift sanctions on Iran undermines the world body, disrupts diplomacy and endangers the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani made the remark on Friday after the 15-member Security Council voted against a resolution that sought to block the re-imposition of deep economic sanctions on Tehran over its peaceful nuclear program.

He said Iran sees no obligation to implement the Security Council’s “hasty, unnecessary and illegal” move.

The responsibility for the decision’s dire consequences fully rests with the United States, Britain, France and Germany, the three European signatories to the 2015 nuclear agreement – formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he added.

The envoy emphasized that the US and European troika leveled alleged accusations against Iran while enabling the criminal attacks of the Israeli regime on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities, which were monitored under the comprehensive safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"Iran's nuclear program will never be destroyed by a bomb, halted by sanctions and diverted from its peaceful path,” Iravani emphasized.

 “The door to diplomacy is not closed. However, it will be Iran, not its enemies, that decides with whom and on what basis to engage,” he pointed out.

China, Russia call snapback ‘illegal’

China and Russia have both rejected the Europeans' bid to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran.

In a joint statement, the two countries, which are parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially announce that they consider the 'snapback' of UN sanctions against Iran as ‘illegal and invalid’, and that they will not abide by them

The two said they will continue to do business with Iran as usual, regardless of UN sanctions.

China's UN Ambassador Fu Cong said the attempt to trigger snapback was "detrimental to the diplomatic effort towards an early resumption of talks, and may even bring about catastrophic consequences that are impossible to foresee and forfeit years of diplomatic efforts in one stroke."

He said, “China maintains that hastily pushing for a vote on the draft resolution might exacerbate confrontation further and is not conducive to the resolution of the issue.”

Calling for restraint and diplomacy, the Chinese envoy said he doubted "whether the E3 have the right to invoke the snapback mechanism."

The United Nations Security Council has voted against permanently lifting economic sanctions on Iran over its peaceful nuclear program.

The 15-member Council on Friday did not adopt the draft resolution drafted by South Korea, as its president, after nine member states voted against it, meaning re-imposing European sanctions by September 28 if no major deal is reached beforehand.

Russia, China, Pakistan and Algeria voted in favor of the draft text while two abstained.

On August 28, Britain, France and Germany -- signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- notified the UN Security Council that they had invoked the so-called snapback mechanism, a 30-day process to restore all UN sanctions against Iran.

Iran rejected the illegitimate move by the European troika, given the US’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA and the trio’s alignment with unlawful sanctions against Iran instead of fulfilling their own commitments.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir