UN Reinstates Sanctions On Iran After European Talks Fail To Thwart Fresh Nuclear Crisis

(MENAFN- Live Mint) (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations will reimpose broad sanctions on Iran after days of frantic diplomacy in New York failed to ease a standoff over Tehran's nuclear program.

The vote wasn't a surprise given opposition from the US and western allies to any extension of sanctions relief. Last month, France, Germany and the UK had set in motion what's known as sanctions“snapback,” citing Tehran's limited cooperation with the IAEA and broader nonproliferation negotiations.

Even so, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met European diplomats on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York over the past week in an effort to find a last ditch agreement that would avert the sanctions and prevent a fresh crisis in the decades-long dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

“The Russian Federation-China text is a hollow effort to relieve Iran of any accountability for its continued, significant non-performance of its nuclear commitments, and all without requiring tangible diplomatic progress,” said Dorothy Shea, the US deputy representative to the UN.

The sanctions were lifted as part of a 2015 nuclear deal with the US and other nations. But Iran has seen limited benefit from it in recent years because President Donald Trump quit the deal in 2018 and reimposed a raft of US sanctions.

Russia's deputy ambassador slammed the US and other Western nations ahead of the vote.

“This is not diplomacy, this is deception, lies and theater of the absurd,” Deputy Ambassador Dmitriy Polyanskiy said.

The move came months after Israel and the US carried out airstrikes on Iran, targeting infrastructure including the country's key nuclear sites. Iran was in the middle of a negotiating process with the US over its atomic activities when the attacks happened and has since heavily restricted IAEA access and has said it won't resume talks with Washington while it continues to make military threats.

Satellite images after the Israeli and US strikes confirmed they destroyed large portions of an above-ground complex and also resulted in chemical and radiological hazards, which Iran says prevent the resumption of IAEA monitoring.

Iran has for years denied its nuclear program is for military purposes and both IAEA inspectors and US intelligence communities have confirmed the absence of a weapons program in the country since the early 2000s.

The Europeans are acting now because their right to reimpose UN sanctions is due to expire on Oct. 18. The process - embedded in the original 2015 Iran deal - requires 30 days to complete.

The UN penalties, which come into effect Saturday evening in the US, will also subject Iran to a full arms embargo, a ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing, a ban on any activities related to ballistic missiles and their development, a global asset freeze and travel on certain Iranian individuals and companies.

While officials have played down the impact the sanctions will have on an already beleaguered economy, it's likely to further weaken Iran's very fragile relationship with Europe and draw the country closer to Russia and China, which have firmly opposed the European moves.

Iran has for years denied its nuclear program is for military purposes and both IAEA inspectors and US intelligence communities have confirmed the absence of a weapons program in the country since the early 2000s.

--With assistance from Jonathan Tirone, Andrea Palasciano, Ania Nussbaum and Arsalan Shahla.

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