Nigerian envoy reaffirms rejection of Iran snapback sanctions as UN Security Council president

Sep 1, 2020

The new United Nations Security Council president, Niger, said the body will stick with a decision to not reimpose sanctions on Iran, despite the United States’ request, Reuters reported today. 

There is a monthly rotation of the presidency among the 15 countries that comprise the Security Council, and Niger is serving for September. Niger’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abdou Abarry, made the comments today.

“We’re staying with this decision … that was stated and announced by the president of the Security Council last month,” said Abarry, according to Reuters. The president then was Indonesia’s  Dian Triansyah Djani.

In August, the United States asked the UN Security Council to reimpose sanctions on Iran, saying Iran is not complying with the 2015 nuclear deal that prohibited Iran from building a nuclear weapon. The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, removed sanctions on Tehran in exchange for its compliance on the nuclear issue. The agreement includes a mechanism whereby parties to the deal can trigger “snapback” sanctions on Iran if the Islamic Republic violates the deal.

The council rejected the US efforts to put the sanctions back in place. European parties to the deal said at the time that the United States cannot trigger the return of sanctions because it withdrew from the agreement in 2018. Russia and China are the other signatories, along with Iran.