No justification for snapback mechanism but pressuring Iran: Baqaei
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that there is no justification for triggering the snapback mechanism against Iran except for exerting political pressure on the Islamic Republic.
During his weekly presser, Esmaeil Baqaei warned that using the snapback mechanism against Iran has consequences that will definitely affect the opposing parties.
His remarks came days after the UK, France, and Germany – three European parties to the Iran nuclear deal – threatened to trigger certain provisions of the agreement, known as the “snapback mechanism,” which would reimpose a broad range of international sanctions on Iran that had been suspended under the 2015 nuclear pact.
After a closed-door UN Security Council’s meeting on Iran nuclear program, initiated by the UK, France and German at Washington’s request, Britain indicated that Iran’s actions could trigger the snapback of UN sanctions.
Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani on Thursday called the meeting an “unwarranted interference” in its ongoing cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iravani described the Wednesday’s meeting as a “blatant political maneuver” which misuses the world body in an attempt to “advance narrow agendas.”
“Such actions set a dangerous precedent that undermines the Council’s credibility,” he added.
“We categorically reject the baseless claims made by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. These countries have conveniently ignored the reality that they themselves are responsible for the current situation.”
Iravani said the Security Council meeting had been held for discussing purely technical issues and thus fall exclusively within the mandate of the IAEA, which were just discussed last week at the Board of Governors in Vienna.