Zarif: Pompeo’s Anti-Iran Claims another Mockery of Security Council

Local Editor

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit out at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for making another “mockery” of the UN Security Council by taking the podium there to brag about Washington’s violation of a resolution adopted by the same council on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Zarif was referring to Security Council 2231 Resolution, which endorsed the multilateral deal.

At a UNSC meeting on Wednesday on the implementation of that resolution, Pompeo repeated the claim that Iran was in “open defiance” of it.

Pompeo also voiced concerns against Iran’s missile activities and urged restrictions on them under Resolution 1929 of 2010. He also announced plans to build a “coalition of responsible nations” against what he called Tehran’s “reckless ballistic missile activity.”

He further defended the decision by US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this year to leave the Iran nuclear deal.

The US also re-imposed on Iran all the sanctions it had lifted under the deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], threatening secondary sanctions against the businesses that fail to abide by Washington’s restrictive measures.

On Thursday, Zarif took to Twitter to respond to Pompeo’s comments at the council, saying that he mocked the council by bragging about violating Resolution 2231 and even speaking of plans for more such violations.

He said the “isolated” US became the first permanent member of the council to punish other countries for complying with Resolution 2231.

He further stressed that Pompeo’s remarks confirmed that Washington and its allies rely on “defunct” Resolution 1929.

Resolution 2231 terminated the provisions of previous UNSC resolutions against Iran, some of which had imposed restrictions on Iranian missile activities. Such activities are not prohibited under Resolution 2231, which merely calls on Iran “to refrain from any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team