United Nations sanctions on Iran are set to be reimposed on Saturday, after a Russian and Chinese Security Council resolution to delay them failed, prompting Tehran to warn that the West bore responsibility for any consequences.
All U.N. sanctions on Iran are due to return at 8 p.m. EDT on Saturday (0000 GMT) after European powers, known as the E3, triggered a 30-day process accusing Tehran of violating a 2015 deal.
Diplomats had said the resolution to delay sanctions for six months had been unlikely to pass, after last-ditch talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany failed to break a deadlock.
Following what it said was European states’ “irresponsible” reinstatement of the snapback mechanism, Iran recalled on Saturday its ambassadors to Germany, France and the United Kingdom for consultation, state media reported.
Russia’s deputy envoy to the United Nations accused the Western powers of burying the diplomatic path.
“The U.S. has betrayed diplomacy, but it is the E3 which have buried it,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the council, saying the snapback was “legally void, politically reckless and procedurally flawed.”
“Diplomacy will never die, but it will be more difficult and more complicated than before,” he told reporters after the Security Council meeting.
In the meantime, President Masoud Pezeshkian told a group of journalists and analysts that Iran had no intention to leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a reaction to the revival of the U.N. sanctions.
“Iran will never seek nuclear weapons … We are fully prepared to be transparent about our highly enriched uranium,” Pezeshkian said.
U.N. sanctions would come into force immediately on Saturday, while European Union sanctions would return next week.
