Wednesday, 10 June _Veto powers China and Russia have written to the United Nations, arguing strongly against a US threat that it will try and bring about a return of all sanctions against Iran if the world body fails to extend an arms embargo against Tehran.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised the matter with Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council (UNSC) in letters submitted to them on June 7, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The United States has vowed to do all in its power to have the UN prolong the embargo on the sales of conventional weapons to Iran. The ban will expire this October under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six major world states.
Wang stressed in the letters that the US was legally prohibited from asking the Security Council to return the sanctions as it withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018.
“The United States, no longer a participant to the JCPOA after walking away from it, has no right to demand the Security Council invoke a snapback,” he wrote.
The US State Department’s point man on Iran, Brian Hook, said at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation on Tuesday that the US would be prepared to raise the issue of the “snapback” of the sanctions against Iran if the arms embargo was not extended.
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