Tehran Says Washington’s Attempts to Impose Unilateral Sanctions Doomed to Failure

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said any attempts by the "sanctions-addicted" US to impose unilateral restrictions on Iran will fail as the move is in violation of international law.

"The sanctions-addicted United States is not far to once again compensate for some of its blatant failures in the [United Nations] Security Council and its inability to reimpose previous sanctions that ended following the nuclear agreement and UNSC Resolution 2231" that endorsed the deal, Khatibzadeh told Russia's Sputnik news agency in an interview published on Wednesday.

"It is clear that any US attempt to introduce its unilateral steps [sanctions] violates international law and is doomed to fail," the spokesman added.

The remarks came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Sunday that the United States was ready to unilaterally “sanction any individual or entity that materially contributes to the supply, sale or transfer of conventional arms to or from Iran, as well as those who provide technical training, financial support and services and other assistance related to these arms.”

Pompeo claimed that “any country” that attempts to sell weapons to Iran “will be very clearly choosing to fuel conflict and tension over promoting peace and security.”

Pompeo's remarks came after an arms embargo on the Islamic Republic was lifted on Sunday as part of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], despite the US administration's efforts in the UN Security council to renew the embargo during a vote in August.

The administration of US President Donald Trump in 2018 pulled Washington out of the JCPOA, which had been signed by Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and Germany, and reinstated the sanctions that had been lifted under the historic accord.

The Americans also suffered another humiliating defeat when the rest of the UN Security Council rejected the US standing to trigger a snapback of international sanctions against Iran, saying it had lost its right to do so when Trump pulled out of the deal.