Iran UN Envoy: Opposition to US Unilateralism Rising

In an interview with IRNA on Sunday, the Iranian envoy said the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly will be held via videoconference due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Diplomatic missions from the member states will not partake in the event, as speeches will be presented through recorded videos, he noted.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will deliver a speech on Tuesday and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is going to give an address to the meeting to mark the 75th anniversary of establishment of the UN, Takht Ravanchi added.

Iran will also take part in some other high-ranking meetings, he said.

The US unilateralism is an issue receiving more and more attention every day, he said.

Considering the US’ measures pertaining to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and UNSC Resolution 2231, which have violated the international law and the UN Charter, this issue will be under the spotlight, the Iranian diplomat added.

The other subjects to be discussed in the UNGA are the COVID-19 outbreak and the sanctions that limit countries’ access to medicine, especially during the pandemic, he noted.

On the US’ attempt to restore the UN sanctions on Iran, Takht Ravanchi said that Washington has tried hard in the past few months to poison the international atmosphere against Iran and also made some moves at the UNSC to cancel the termination of Iran’s arms embargo envisaged by the UNSC Resolution 2231.

The US tested the Security Council with a draft resolution a couple of weeks ago and was roundly rejected, he noted, saying the resolution was once again dismissed after Washington shortened it to four paragraphs.

The fact that the US-initiated resolution received only two votes from the 15 members of the UNSC was a heavy defeat for tWashington, the ambassador said.

Takht Ravanchi further dismissed the US claim that it is still a participant of the JCPOA and its threat to invoke the snapback clause of the nuclear deal in order to bring back in 30 days the sanctions on Iran, lifted by the JCPOA and UNSC Resolution 2231.

Everyone saw that the UNSC members wrote separate and joint letters to the Security Council president to oppose Washington’s claim that it is still a JCPOA participant, he noted, adding, "Whatever decision the US makes in this regard is an empty one."

About a month ago, the US wrote a letter to the UNSC president for snapback invocation of the JCPOA and the UNSC Resolution 2231 to restore the sanctions and gave a deadline as well, which was “fake and illegal” and rejected by the UNSC members, he stressed, saying nothing has happened after the fake deadline of September 20.

Now the US is threatening to impose sanctions on other countries if they cooperate with Iran, he deplored.

The envoy went on to say that Iran has already made it clear that the US sanctions and policies are illegal and will get nowhere.