TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2020) The United States has failed in its pursuit of restoring international sanctions on Tehran, which marks a victory of the Iranian diplomacy, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that all previously scrapped UN sanctions against Iran were now brought back into effect under the snapback mechanism of UN Security Council Resolution 2231. The statement was already rejected as false by Russia, a permanent UN Security Council member, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the coordinator of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"Today is a memorable day in the history of our diplomacy. The United States, as a country that pushes for [its interests] by force, has been making some serious effort for about two and a half years to restore UN sanctions against the Iranian nation � a process that has come to its inevitable collapse in recent months," Rouhani said in a televised address.
According to the Iranian president, the US has been trying to assemble an anti-Iranian coalition ever since it withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 as well as to provoke Tehran to undertake actions that would give Washington legit grounds to restore the sanctions.
"Fortunately, the US encountered failure and negative reactions by the international community, even its traditional allies, at absolutely every stage of this period," Rouhani said.
The Iranian president even threw in a pun, saying that Washington's policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran has lead to its own "maximum isolation."
Rouhani said that the US' expectation of unconditional support from the UN Security Council has failed it, going on to thank Russia and China, in particular, for their support amid Washington's pressure.
The Iranian leader vowed readiness to counter what he described Washington's "banditry" as well as pledged Tehran's readiness to return to fully implementing obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal once all other signatories do the same.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, stipulating the removal of international sanctions from Tehran in exchange for it scaling down its nuclear program. The deal was then enshrined in UNSC Resolution 2231.
The original deal turned short-lived as the US unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran to which the latter responded by gradually abandoning its own commitments.
Earlier this year, the US tried to campaign for the restoration of international sanctions on Iran, specifically an extension to arms embargo, but all of its draft resolutions ended up rejected.
