by WorldTribune Staff, June 30, 2017
The United Nations continues to look the other way as Iran “repeatedly and deliberately” violates sanctions imposed by the world body, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on June 29.
“The Security Council has failed to even take minimal steps to respond to these violations,” Haley told a council briefing on Iran. “We must … show Iran that we will not tolerate their egregious flaunting of UN resolutions.”
While most UN sanctions were lifted 18 months ago as part of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, the Islamic Republic is still subject to an arms embargo and other restrictions which are not technically part of the nuclear agreement.
The Trump administration is reviewing the nuclear deal – agreed to under President Barack Obama – and Haley said that “until that review is completed we will comply with our commitments and we expect Iran to do the same.”
UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman on June 29 briefed the Security Council on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ most recent report on the implementation of the remaining sanctions and restrictions included in UN resolution 2231.
“The secretary-general’s report makes clear that Iran is in violation of the Security Council resolution 2231 and so the question becomes ‘what is the Security Council going to do about it?’ ” Haley said.
No council members have proposed taking any action against Iran, the Jersualem Post reported on June 30, adding that diplomats believe veto-powers Russia and China were unlikely to agree to more measures.
Feltman told the council that in relation to a weapons seizure by the French Navy in the northern Indian Ocean in March 2016, the UN was “confident that the weapons seized are of Iranian origin and were shipped from Iran.”
The secretary-general’s report also looked at Iran’s Jan. 29 launch of a ballistic missile and noted there was no consensus within the Security Council on how the launch related to resolution 2231.
“I call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to avoid such ballistic missile launches, which have the potential to increase tensions,” Guterres said in the report.
A year ago Guterres’ predecessor Ban Ki-Moon described ballistic missile launches by Iran as “not consistent with the constructive spirit” of the nuclear deal.
Under the UN resolution, Iran is “called upon” to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years. Some states argue that language does not make it obligatory.
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