WNAM REPORT: Russia has confirmed circulating a draft proposal at the UN Security Council aimed at averting activation of the so-called “snapback” mechanism that would restore the council’s sanctions against Iran.
The country’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanski made the remarks to reporters during a press conference on Tuesday.
“It (the proposal) is about extending Resolution 2231,” he said.
The resolution’s expected expiration in October would lead to the reinstatement of the coercive measures, according to Press TV.
The European trio of the UK, France, and Germany – the United States’ allies in a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world countries – has been trying hard to have the measures restored.
Polyanski, however, insisted, “Russia and China want to give more breathing space for diplomacy and provide some possibilities for an active quest for a diplomatic solution to this issue.”
He said Moscow and Beijing were doing so in their capacity as “responsible members of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal’s official name.
In 2018, the United States left the agreement in an illegal and unilateral move that was followed by its return of its sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The European trio not only failed to live up to their promise of returning the US to the deal, but also followed in Washington’s footsteps by returning their own economic bans targeting the Islamic Republic.
Now, they are trying to trigger the mechanism, accusing the Islamic Republic of “diverting” its peaceful nuclear energy activities towards “military purposes,” despite the lack of all justifying evidence.
Iran and its allies, Russia, and China have repeatedly asserted that the European states’ refusal to commit to their obligations under the nuclear deal, and their alignment with the United States in the latter’s aggression against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities in June, have robbed them of any excuse to resort to the “snapback.”
According to Polyanski, averting the mechanism’s deployment “is in the interest of all the parties, because there are a lot of belligerent initiatives that would absolutely make the situation much worse.”
“The choice of the international community should be in favor of peace and diplomacy, not in favor of war – and that is what our draft is about,” he added.
“Hopefully, it will be acceptable. I think it will be kind of a litmus test for those who really want to uphold diplomatic efforts and for those who do not want any diplomatic solution, but just want to pursue their own nationalist, selfish agendas against Iran. We will see quite soon.”
