No UN support for reimposing Iran sanctions now: Guterres

United Nations: Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the United Nations will not support reimposing sanctions on Iran as the United States is demanding until he gets a green light from the Security Council.

The UN chief said in a letter to the council president obtained on Sunday by The Associated Press that there would appear to be uncertainty on whether or not US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo triggered the snapback mechanism in the Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers.

The Trump administration declared Saturday that all UN sanctions against Iran have been restored, a move most of the rest of the world rejects as illegal and is likely to ignore. The US announcement is certain to cause controversy during the UN's annual high-level meetings of the General Assembly starting on Monday, which is being held mainly virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US announcement came 30 days after Pompeo notified the council that the administration was triggering snapback because Iran was in significant non-performance with its obligations under the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.

But the overwhelming majority of members in the 15-nation council call the US action illegal because President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the plan in 2018.

They point to Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the nuclear agreement. It states that a JCPOA participant state can trigger the snapback mechanism. The US insists that as an original participant it has the legal right, even though it ceased participating.

Guterres noted in the letter that the Security Council has taken no action subsequent to the receipt of the letter of the US secretary of state, neither have any of its members or its president.

He said the majority of council members have written to the council president to the effect that the letter did not constitute a notification that snapback" was triggered. And he said the presidents of the council for August and September have indicated that they were not in a position to take any action in regard to this matter.

Therefore, Guterres said: It is not for the secretary-general to proceed as if no such uncertainty exists. The UN Secretariat, which Guterres heads, provides support to the Security Council in implementing sanctions including establishing committees and panels of experts to monitor their implementation along with websites on the nature of sanctions and lists of those on sanctions blacklists.

Guterres said the UN won't take any action pending clarification by the Security Council on whether or not sanctions that have been lifted should be reimposed.

Under the snapback provision, UN sanctions eased or lifted by the nuclear deal are re-imposed and must be enforced by UN member states.

Those would include hitting Iran with penalties for uranium enrichment to any level, ballistic missile activity and buying or selling conventional

weapons.