Tehran Vows Appropriate Response to US Attempts to Refer the JCPOA to UNSC

By Staff, Agencies

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Abbas Mousavi said Washington’s ploy to again become a participant of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after its unilateral withdrawal from the agreement is a nonstarter that runs counter to the international law.

Mousavi voiced Tehran’s readiness to an appropriate response to Washington’s attempts to refer the deal to the UN Security Council.

Speaking at a video press conference on Monday, Mousavi deplored the US’ push for extending a UN arms embargo against Iran under a plan to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], saying such attempts are in contravention of the international law and the world is unlikely to approve the US plan.

“With its illegal withdrawal from the JCPOA, the US has sought to destroy all political, economic and security achievements (of the deal),” the spokesman said.

“The US has violated the [UNSC] Resolution 2231 and is no longer a party to the JCPOA. We are in contact with the other JCPOA members and are confident that they [Americans] will not succeed,” Mousavi added.

He also said that Iran will be prepared to give an “appropriate and decisive” response to the attempts at referring the JCPOA to the UN Security Council and triggering the so-called snapback provisions of the nuclear deal.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced recently that Washington is preparing a legal argument that the US would remain a participant in the JCPOA –already renounced by the US president- as part of an intricate strategy to pressure the UN Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Tehran.

According to Pompeo’s plan, bound to be opposed by many of Washington’s European allies, the US would, in essence, claim it legally remains a “participant state” in the nuclear accord only for the purposes of invoking a “snapback” that would restore the UN sanctions on Iran that were in place before the nuclear deal.