US Begins Iranian Snapback Sanctions Despite EU Objections
The U.S. officially initiated the snapback of United Nations sanctions on Iran (see 2008210009), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sept. 19. The move will return “virtually all” sanctions on Iran that were previously terminated by the U.N. under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Pompeo said. He said the U.S. made the move because the U.N. did not extend the Iranian arms embargo scheduled to expire in October (see 2004130011).
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Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said the U.S. has no authority to trigger the snapback sanctions because it is no longer a party to the JCPOA. “It cannot, therefore … initiate the process of reinstating UN sanctions,” Borrell said Sept. 20. France, Germany and the United Kingdom agreed: The U.S. decision to invoke snapback sanctions “is incapable of having legal effect,” the countries said in a Sept. 20 statement.
Speaking during a Sept. 21 news conference, Pompeo said the U.S. expects all U.N. countries to impose the sanctions but did not say how the U.S. will enforce them. “Every member state in the United Nations has a responsibility to enforce these sanctions, and that certainly includes the United Kingdom, France and Germany. We will have every expectation that those nations enforce these sanctions,” Pompeo said. “I wish that they would join us in this.”