‘It looks like cheating’: Russia dismisses E3 bids to reimpose anti-Iran sanctions

Russia’s foreign ministry has criticized the dishonest attempts by the three UN Security Council countries to return the anti-Iranian sanctions.

Maria Zakharova said on Saturday that the United Kingdom, France, and Germany are cheating to re-impose the illegal sanctions aimed at punishing the Islamic Republic over its peaceful nuclear program.

The United States and its allies, namely, the UK, France, Denmark, Greece, Panama, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia, on Friday vetoed the draft measure from Russia and China that sought to delay the imposition of the coercive economic measures against Tehran for six months.

“The so-called ‘snapback’ mechanism [now] remains in force, which will see sanctions re-imposed on Tehran this weekend, following the termination of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),” the UN announced.

The 2015 agreement lifted the sanctions, which had been imposed on the Iranian nation by the Security Council and the US, the UK, France, and Germany over unfounded allegations concerning Tehran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.

“From the point of view of international law, it looks like cheating: if you break the rules yourself, you lose the right to use the mechanisms prescribed in them,” the director of the information and press department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a message on her Telegram channel.

Zakharova said that, based on UN resolution 2231, it is initially necessary to sort out the claims in the dispute resolution mechanism and, if discussion is not possible, contact the UN Security Council.

She added that Western states have not fulfilled their obligations under the Iran deal for many years, and now they are “trying to use legal tricks sewn with white threads” in order to “punish Iran.”

Iran recalls ambassadors from UK, France, and Germany after E3 trigger ‘snapback’ of sanctions

Iran’s Foreign Ministry summons the country’s ambassadors to three European countries for consultations.

US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the JCPOA in 2018 during his first term in office in an illegal and unilateral move.

He then re-imposed anti-Iran sanctions that the JCPOA deal had removed from the Iranian nation. After Trump pulled out of the deal, the UK, France, and Germany also resorted to non-commitment vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic by stopping their trade with Tehran.

The Friday vote came after the E3 trio launched their own bid to activate the “snapback” on August 28.

Tehran refused to categorically rule out talks with the European troika even after illegal and unprovoked attacks by the Israeli regime and the United States against key Iranian nuclear facilities in June, which made it impossible for the IAEA to continue its inspections as before.

Iran’s latest goodwill gesture came on September 9, when it signed a framework agreement with the IAEA aimed at resuming cooperation with the agency, which had been suspended following the aggression.

Both Russia and China, permanent members of the UN Security Council, have publicly denounced the re-imposition of the anti-Iran sanctions.

Reimposed sanctions would likely affect oil and gas exports, maritime shipping, banking, and insurance, while also restricting access to international financial systems and deterring foreign investment.

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