A reminder to Troika Resolution 1929
was terminated
Staff writer
The UK, France, Germany, and the US have separately accused Iran of violating a UN Security Council resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal after it launched the satellite Nour-3 (Light-3) into orbit on September 27.
The Nour-3 imaging satellite was successfully placed into an orbit 450 kilometers (280 miles) above the Earth’s surface aboard the Iranian Qased satellite carrier. It was the latest successful launch by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force. Space Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force Ali Jafarabadi has described the satellite as having an “image accuracy that is two and a half times that of the Nour-2 satellite.” Nour-2, launched in March 2022, has remained in orbit to this day. Nour-1, launched in 2020, fell back to Earth last year.
The four above-mentioned Western states consider the launch of the satellite a threat to the region and international security.
However, Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized that despite some interpretations that stem from the unilateral desires of certain governments, under international law, there are no restrictions on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s scientific and applied activities in the field of space research.
Fierce Western criticism of Iran’s missile tests or satellite launches has become a repetitive pattern against Iran. They have attempted to label any Iranian action in these domains as a violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and Resolution 2231. The Americans were not even satisfied with the ban on missile activities in Iran in 2020 and demanded the extension of the embargo on Iran’s conventional military weapons, which ended in 2020 as part of the nuclear agreement. Their excessive demands ended in a major legal and political embarrassment for them as their resolution proposed on the Security Council session of August 14, 2020, had only the Dominican Republic’s affirmative vote, and the conventional arms sanctions against Iran expired on October 18, 2020.
Different interpretations
Throughout the years following the JCPOA, there has always been a clear difference in interpretation between Iran and Western parties regarding Iranian missile tests, satellite launches, and their connection to UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Western parties claim, like they just did again, that this resolution prohibits any ballistic missile activity by Iran, including the use of satellite launch vehicles for placing satellites into orbit. They claim that satellite launches help Tehran’s ballistic missile program. As French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre claimed, “These activities are all the more worrying in the context of the continuing escalation of Iran’s nuclear program.”
However, the reality is quite different from the Western interpretation as per the texts of the JCPOA and Resolution 2231. Banning Iran’s ballistic missile activities was not mentioned in the 2015 JCPOA text at all. Even in Resolution 2231, the issue was not raised.
What the Western parties refer to is a non-mandatory and non-binding request in the third article of the second appendix of the resolution. This article calls on Iran not to have any activities related to the design and use of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
So, this part of the appendix of Resolution 2231, contrary to the limiting Resolution of 1929, makes only a non-binding request (“called”). What is more, it is not even about the activities of ballistic missiles “capable of delivering” atomic weapons, but about ballistic missiles “designed to be capable” of carrying nuclear weapons.
In fact, Resolution 2231 represents a significant modification by the UN Security Council regarding Iran’s missile activities compared to Resolution 1929. Resolution 1929, adopted in 2010, imposes extensive prohibitions against Iran’s conventional weapons activities in Article 8 and even more stringent prohibitions against Iran’s ballistic missiles in Article 9. Article 9 states the Security Council “decides that Iran shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and States are required to take all necessary measures to prevent the transfer of related technology or technical assistance.”
Thus, the claims of the European states and the US against Iran’s missile tests and satellite launches seem to align more with Resolution 1929 rather than Resolution 2231. This is despite the fact that these four states are well aware that with the 2015 JCPOA agreement and the endorsement of Resolution 2231, the previously passed Resolution 1929 has automatically been nullified.
Untenable positions
The positions of Western countries are so legally untenable that even BBC Persian, on April 23, 2020, explicitly stated that the European trio’s request from the UN secretary-general to inform the Security Council that Iran’s ballistic missile program is not a violation of the JCPOA or Resolution 2231.
In response to the US State Department’s previous claim that the launch of the Nour-1 satellite in 2020 violated Resolution 2231, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova had dismissed the claim, instead accusing Washington of violating the nuclear deal.
According to Zakharova, the US “flagrantly breached the norms of international law and violated the UNSC resolution 2231” and was trying to deflect international condemnation by making baseless accusations of Iran’s noncompliance with requirements of the Security Council.
The humorous part of the story is that while the European trio accuses Iran of violating UN Security Council Resolution 2231, it has openly announced its intention to violate the same resolution and the JCPOA itself. According to the JCPOA, on October 18, another set of Iran’s sanctions related to its missile activities were due to be lifted. However, since Germany, France, and the UK have claimed that Iran has not fulfilled its JCPOA commitments since 2019, they are making plans not to lift those sanctions on October 18. The US government has thrown its support behind the move as well.
In response to the failure of the European parties to fulfill their obligations a year after the US unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018, Iran gradually reduced its commitments.
Iranian officials have repeatedly emphasized that any increase in Iran’s nuclear activities or a reduction in its commitments under the JCPOA is based on Article 36 of the nuclear agreement, which grants Iran these rights. Iran has insisted that as soon as the other parties to the JCPOA honor their commitments and let Iran benefit from its safeguarded interests under the deal, it will quickly return to fully honoring its own commitments.
So, Western countries are essentially blaming Tehran for not adhering to the nuclear agreement and violating Resolution 2231, while they themselves, led by the United States, have failed to adhere to the agreement and are now openly planning to violate it again on October 18.