UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The Biden administration on Thursday withdrew former President Donald Trump’s reinstatement of UN sanctions against Iran, an announcement that could help Washington rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, targeting on curbing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Acting U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills sent a letter to the UN Security Council on behalf of President Joe Biden saying that the United States is “ withdrawing ” three letters from the Trump administration, culminating in the September 19 announcement that the United States sanctions. on Tehran.
Mills said in the letter obtained by The Associated Press that the sanctions ended in the 2015 council resolution approving the nuclear deal with six superpowers but reinstated by Trump in September “remain terminated.”
Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, in 2018, accusing Iran of serious violations.
Biden has said the United States wants to rejoin the pact and the State Department said Thursday that the US would accept an invitation from the European Union to attend a meeting of the participants in the original agreement – Great Britain Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran.
The Trump administration’s decision to invoke a provision in the 2015 Council resolution that would allow for a reduction in sanctions for Iran’s “significant non-compliance” with its obligations under the accord was ignored by the rest of the Security Council and the world.
The vast majority of members in the 15-country council called Trump’s action illegal because the US was no longer a member of the JCPOA.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations would not support the re-imposition of sanctions against Iran, as demanded by the United States, until it got the go-ahead from the Security Council. He said there was “uncertainty” as to whether former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo triggered the “snapback” mechanism.