U.S. Sanctions Tantrum
The peace deal between the UAE and Israel and Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit to the USA this week emphasised their building tensions with Iran. The US administration was further enraged by the UN Security Council’s refusal to reinstate sanctions against Iran for supposed ‘significant non-compliance’ with the 2015 nuclear deal.
Pool photo by Mike Segar
The non-compliance has been disputed by IAEA inspectors upon the reestablishment of their work in Iran. The nuclear deal has an arbitration clause which other nations are eager to explore before reinstating sanctions. The actions of the US are seen as legally unfounded because the US left the nuclear deal in 2018. President Trump implemented new sanctions on Iran as of Monday 21st September.
The Iranian envoy to the UN, Majid Takht-Ravanchi said that the restrictions do not have a practical effect and were a gesture to distract from the US failures in the Security Council debates. On the 24th of September, the US blacklisted a number of Iranian officials and entities for “human rights violations”.
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