Tehran, Sep 1 (EFE) – Iran, China, and Russia sent a joint letter to the United Nations rejecting the United Kingdom, France, and Germany ‘s (E3) attempt to reimpose international sanctions against Tehran.
“This action by the Foreign Ministers of E3 clearly contravenes the resolution, and therefore, it is by default legally and procedurally flawed,” said the letter shared on X by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, also signed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“The E3’s course abuses the authority and functions of the UN Security Council while misleading its members as well as the international community concerning the root causes of breakdown in the implementation of the JCPOA and the UNSCR 2231,” it added.
On Thursday, the E3 initiated the mechanism for the automatic restoration of UN sanctions against Tehran within 30 days for breaching the 2015 nuclear deal, which limited the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.
Monday’s letter to the UN states that the US exit from the nuclear deal in 2018 and the subsequent reimposition of sanctions invalidates the use of this mechanism to reimpose punitive measures against Iran, as Washington failed to comply with the commitments set out in the agreement.
In 2019, Tehran began enriching uranium well beyond the limits set out in the agreement.
Iran, China, and Russia further regretted that the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the European Union agreed to “comply with discriminatory and illegal US sanctions” and “imposed their own restrictive actions.”
“The re-imposition of terminated UN Security Council’s sanctions on Iran is irrational and preposterous. It would only lead to rewarding the E3 for its significant non-performance, undoing years of diplomatic efforts, undermining the credibility of multilateral agreements, and setting a precedent for selective enforcement of international obligations,” adds the letter.
Before activating the mechanism, the E3 offered Tehran to extend the deadline of the process, which ends on Oct. 18, if it resumed cooperation with the UN nuclear agency, suspended after the 12-day war with Israel in June, to report on the whereabouts of 400 kilos of 60 % enriched uranium and return to the negotiating table.
Tehran rejected the proposal and instead called on the UN Security Council “to reject the claims of France, Germany and the United Kingdom regarding the alleged invocation of the mechanism and to reaffirm their commitment to the principles of international law and multilateral diplomacy.” EFE
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