Iran has accused US President Donald Trump of endangering the current world order with the planned sabotage of the Vienna nuclear agreement with the help of the „snapback“ mechanism. Trump’s strategic goal is not only to torpedo the 2015 nuclear agreement, but he wants to enforce unilateralism and thus change the world order. „All countries should show solidarity in order to defend the reputation of the UN,“ tweeted Diako Hosseini, political advisor in the Tehran presidential office, today.
The nuclear agreement is intended to prevent Iran from being armed with nuclear weapons, but it grants the Islamic Republic an internationally monitored civil nuclear program. In the course of the agreement adopted by the United Nations, the dismantling of sanctions against Iran was also regulated. An arms embargo will expire next October. The US wants an extension of the embargo, but did not get away with it in the UN Security Council.
Iran: Trump wants to cover up domestic political problems
Now US President Trump wants to force the reinstatement of all international sanctions against the will of the other members of the UN Security Council via the mechanism known as “snapback”. This right was granted to the participants in the nuclear agreement in the event of Iranian violations of the agreement. However, under Trump, the United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018.
Iran takes the view that the US has no right to trigger the “snapback” mechanism because it is no longer part of the agreement. Therefore, this plan of the US President will also fail. In Tehran, it is suspected that Trump is trying to cover up his domestic political problems with a new foreign policy crisis and thus increase his chances of being re-elected in November.
In the opinion of the EU Foreign Affairs Representative, Josep Borrell, the USA is not entitled to force the reinstatement of sanctions via the „snapback“ mechanism. Since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in May 2018 and has not participated in it since, it could not be considered a participant, a Borrell spokeswoman said on request. Borrell is the EU foreign representative coordinator of the nuclear agreement (JCPOA), which the UN veto powers USA, China, Russia, France and Great Britain as well as Germany and Iran agreed on in 2015.
