Daily Times

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that his country’s European allies preferred to align with Iran’s Ayatollah, after announcing the activation of a controversial mechanism to re-impose UN sanctions on Tehran.

Pompeo pointed out that Germany, France, and Britain refused to cooperate with his country to re-impose sanctions aimed primarily at preventing Iran from arming, describing the US decision as “courageous.”

Pompeo’s statement came after the European trio announced that in 2018 when the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran, it lost the legal right to implement the “Snapback” mechanism that allows for the re-imposition of all UN sanctions on Tehran.

The United States has accused Iran of breaching a 2015 deal with world powers that aimed to stop Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in return for sanctions relief. But President Donald Trump described it as the “worst deal ever” and quit in 2018.

Diplomats said Russia, China, and many other countries are unlikely to reimpose the sanctions on Iran. Pompeo again warned Russia and China against that on Friday, threatening US action if they refuse to reimpose the UN measures on Iran.

The United States acted on Thursday after the Security Council resoundingly rejected its bid last week to extend an arms embargo on Iran beyond its expiration in October. Only the Dominican Republic joined Washington in voting yes.

The Dominican Republic has not yet written to the council to state its position on the sanctions snapback push.

Under the process Washington says it has triggered, it appears all UN sanctions should be reimposed at midnight GMT (8 p.m New York time) on September 19 – just days before Trump is due to address world leaders at the UN General Assembly, the annual meeting that will be largely virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic.