US President Donald Trump has vowed to use a controversial technique to unilaterally reinstate UN sanctions on Tehran, a move with huge repercussions for the Iran nuclear deal.
His declaration on Saturday (Sunday AEST) came a day after the UN Security Council rejected a US resolution to extend an Iranian arms embargo.
“We’ll be doing a snapback,” Mr Trump said during a news conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“You’ll be watching it next week.”
The President was referring to the contested argument that the US remains a “participant” in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — despite Mr Trump’s withdrawal from it — and therefore can force a return to sanctions if it sees Iran as being in violation of its terms.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US had failed to kill off what he called the “half alive” deal with major powers that gave Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. “The United States failed in this conspiracy with humiliation,” said Mr Rouhani. “This day will go down in the history of our Iran and in the history of fighting global arrogance.”
Only two of the council’s 15 members voted in favour of the US resolution seeking to extend the embargo, highlighting the division between Washington and its European allies since Mr Trump withdrew from the nuclear accord in 2018.
The Europeans on the council all abstained, and Iran mocked the Trump administration for winning the support of just one other country, the Dominican Republic.
Read the article by Sebastian Smith and David Vujanovic in The Australian.