Don’t Let Iran Renew Its Quest for Deadly Weapons https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/politics-current-affairs/2020/05/dont-let-iran-renew-its-quest-for-deadly-weapons/

May 1, 2020 | Benny Avni
About the author:

Among the many faults of the 2015 nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic are its sunset clauses, which specify that various restrictions on Iran will expire stepwise, so that by 2030 none will remain. The first to expire is an international ban on the sale of certain conventional weapons to Tehran, which will “sunset” in November of this year. Because the deal was ratified into international law by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, the Security Council has the power to extend the embargo. The State Department now seeks to do just that, explains Benny Avni, but it may face opposition:

Russia, which is eager to renew legal arms sales to Iran, would likely veto the U.S.-proposed resolution—if it ever comes to a vote. China might join, and America’s European allies that cling to the deal would need a lot of convincing before they agree to tweak any part of the 2015 resolution. So [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo’s attempt to extend the arms embargo could fail, but then America just might get even more bold, using Resolution 2231’s self-destruct mechanism. Known as the “snapback” option, the resolution provided such a path to help the Obama administration sell [the deal] at home.

If Iran were ever to cheat on its obligations, promised top officials in the Obama administration, we’d at any time be able to end the deal and reimpose full sanctions. Further, they added, no one at the UN could stand in our way. Hence the “snapback” mechanism that, according to the UN resolution, allows any of the original parties to the [agreement] to “reimpose unilateral and multilateral nuclear-related sanctions in the event of Iran non-performance,” as Secretary of State John Kerry told the Senate at the time.

Indeed, according to Resolution 2231, the original parties to the nuclear deal—Russia, Communist China, France, Britain, Germany, and America (as well as the European Union and Iran)—can unilaterally launch a process leading to re-imposition of prior strict Security Council sanctions.

Hence, if a new resolution fails, a snapback of all international sanctions must proceed. The 2015 UN resolution had legally bound America to a deal that the Senate wouldn’t endorse. Ending the UN endorsement of the Iran deal would return the power of making such deals to the representatives of the American people. That in and of itself would be grounds for forcing a snapback.

Read more on New York Sun: https://www.nysun.com/foreign/un-deadline-looms-on-ending-iran-deal-just-before/91108/