Sunday, 16 August 2020_The US ambassador to the United Nations says failure to extend the Iran arms embargo is "not an option," after the country saw its biggest defeat in the UN Security Council ever.
Speaking to Fox News, he warned that there would be some, “severe measures up at the UN,” acknowledging that, “We lost today, but this is not over yet.”
Even US traditional allies -- Germany, Britain and France -- abstained from endorsing the resolution, revealing the depth of US alienation on the world stage.
The UK argued that London abstained, “because it was clear that it would not attract the support of the Council and would not represent a basis for achieving consensus"
"Nevertheless, we stand ready to work with Council Members and JCPOA participants to seek a path forward that could secure the support of the Council,” further claimed UK ambassador to the UN Jonathan Allen.
This is while other signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, argue that the US cannot use the JCPOA's snapback mechanism simply because it is not part of the deal anymore as Trump decided.
“Having withdrawn from the JCPOA, the US is no longer a JCPOA participant and therefore ineligible to demand the Security Council invoke a snapback,” Chinese ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun said in a statement. “The overwhelming majority of the Security Council members believe that the US attempt has no legal basis... Should the US insist regardless of international opinion, it is doomed to fail like today.”
The arms embargo on Iran is set to expire on October 18 under the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015.
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