The United Nations reset a arms embargo and other sanctions against Iran on Saturday night because of its nuclear program. International press agencies report this. It is the first time in ten years that UN sanctions have come into force against the country.
The sanctions, intended to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapon, follow on failed conversations between Tehran and Western countries. The measures, based on resolutions of the UN Security Council that were adopted between 2006 and 2010, came back in operation at 2:00 AM Dutch Time on Sunday at 2:00 AM.
“We urge Iran and all states to keep these resolutions fully,” said Foreign Ministers of France, Great Britain and Germany in a joint statement. The three countries had argued by the Security Council for the reintroduction of sanctions, due to accusations that Iran violated the 2015 agreement that it was aimed at stopping the development of an atomic bomb.
Enriched uranium
For example, Tehran limited control of his nuclear program and it was further out of the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the Israeli war against the country in June, where the US also attacked nuclear installations in Iran. Iran denies nuclear weapons, but still has a stock of enriched uranium.
Under the sanctions, a ban on the sale to Iran of conventional weapons and parts that can be used for nuclear weapons or rockets applies. Iranian credits abroad will also be frozen again and its companies and people involved in the Iranian core program target. In addition, every development of the Iranian ballistic rocket program is punished.
According to observers, the sanctions will hit the already weakened Iranian economy. The population is increasingly having to deal with food shortages. Tehran has warned about a hard response. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that Iran is not going to withdraw from the non-proliferation treaty. Iran said it will recall its ambassadors in Great Britain, France and Germany for consultation.
‘Snapback’
US President Donald Trump has stated that diplomacy is still an option for Iran and that an agreement remains the best outcome, the American Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said in a statement after the UN sanctions came into force again. The Iranian economy is already struggling with American sanctions, which have been set up again since 2018 after Trump let the core deal sail during his first term of office.
The UN sanctions have been re-implemented through a mechanism that is known as ‘Snapback’, included in the Nuclear deal from 2015. That is why the step could not be stopped with a veto in the Security Council.
Nevertheless, Russia has resisted the reintroduction of the sanctions. An attempt by Russia and China to postpone the decision until April received insufficient support in the Security Council on Friday. “It is illegal and cannot be implemented,” the Russian Foreign Minister Sergej Lavrov told reporters at the UN on Saturday.
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