UNSC Head Says 'Not in Position to Take Further Action' on US Move to Trigger Sanctions on Iran

Last week, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, stated that Washington will not succeed in its attempt to renew sanctions against Tehran through the mechanism launched at the United Nations.

UN Security Council President Dian Triansyah Djani said on Tuesday that he is not in a position to take further action on the attempt by the United States to re-impose all United Nations sanctions on Iran.

"There is no consensus in the Council. Thus, the president is not in the position to take further action," Djani said.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a letter to the UN Security Council requesting that it invokes the 2015 nuclear agreement snapback sanctions mechanism under Resolution 2231, citing Iran's non-compliance with the accord.

Washington has announced plans to trigger the snapback mechanism to reimpose all the UN sanctions against Iran — previously lifted under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — after failing to get the UN Security Council to pass a resolution aiming to indefinitely extend the arms UN embargo on Iran.

The arms embargo is set to expire in October under the terms of the nuclear agreement. Zarif has said that Washington’s move to trigger snapback sanctions linked to the JCPOA was "illegal."

Majority of the UN Security Council members said they would not support the United States’ move to snapback sanctions since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018.