The Trump administration has dismissed opposition to its demand to restore all UN sanctions on Iran, declaring that a 30-day countdown for the “snapback” of penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal had begun.
US allies and foes joined forces to declare the action illegal and doomed to failure, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US special envoy for Iran Brian Hook strongly disagreed and questioned the motives of those who object.
Opponents say the US lost the standing to trigger the snapback when President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. Pompeo and Hook maintain that the United States retains that right and doesn’t need permission to use it.
“We don’t need anyone’s permission,” Hook told reporters in a briefing on Friday. “Iran is in violation of its voluntary nuclear commitments. The condition has been met to initiate snapback. And so we have now started to initiate snapback.”
The five countries now in dispute with the US administration – Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – remain supporters of the 2015 nuclear deal, which the Obama administration backed, to rein in Iran’s nuclear program and prevent its development of nuclear weapons.
The European Union announced on Friday that the five nations and Iran will meet in Vienna on September 1.
Read the article by in The West Australian.