UNSC to discuss SecGen’s report on Iran nuclear deal
In today’s UN Security Council (UNSC) session, Russia is expected to criticise UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s recent Iran report confirming that missiles used in the Saudi oil facility attacks in September 2019 were of Iranian origin.
Ahead of the session, Russia, which has coordinated with Iran in Syria and enjoys strong trade relations with Tehran, described the report as lacking neutrality and facts.
Russia’s push to delegitimise the UNSC’s report is part of a broader strategy to counter the US and its attempts to influence the UN into re-imposing the Iran arms embargo once the current round expires in October. As a permanent member of the UNSC, Russia can veto such a resolution. Faced with this possibility, the US is threatening to offset a sanctions snapback that would reimpose UN sanctions due to Iran’s “significant non-performance” under the nuclear deal. Moscow argues that because the US is no longer a signatory of the deal, it is ineligible to use this provision.
Expect that China, which opposes the re-imposition of sanctions, will back Russia in its criticism of the report. Meanwhile, though France, Germany and the UK will likely oppose Russia, they won’t side with the US, whose push for a sanctions snapback threatens to terminate the nuclear deal that they still support.
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