U.S. efforts to have the U.N sanctions on Iran reimposed will have "dangerous consequences," Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif said in a letter to the UN on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Zarif added that the U.S. has no right to trigger the reimposition of U.N. sanctions on Iran.
"The U.S. push to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran will have dangerous consequences ... Iran has exercised restraint in good faith ... Now it is the international community's turn to counter the unlawful push by the United States," Javad Zari said in the letter.
The threat of dangerous consequences comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump instructed his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to trigger the snapback of the U.N. sanctions at the Security Council on Thursday.
As part of that process, the U.S. would argue to the U.N. that Iran has failed to comply with its obligations under the 2015 nuclear program agreement.
The U.S. pulled out of the agreement in 2018, referring to it as "the worst deal ever". The U.S. then imposed sanctions on Iran. Now Iran is arguing that the United States, who is no longer party to the agreement, is also no longer entitled to having a say in the matter.
The threats also come on the same day that Iran unveiled its new ballistic and cruise missiles, in a further escalation of the tensions between the two nations.
U.S. sanctions on Iran have cut into Iran's oil exports over the past year, although Iran has made every effort to skirt those sanctions in order to continue to generate much-needed oil revenue.
Iran has stated that as long as U.S. sanctions on Iran stay in place, there can be no talks about its nuclear or missile programs.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Comments
The US move has more to do with President Trump improving his chances of winning the November presidential elections by escalating tension with Iran probably with the intention of starting a war against it thus uniting the American people behind him.
However, waging a war against Iran egged by Israel will be a catastrophe for the global economy, the US economy and particularly Israel. That is why the US may refrain from such a foolish adventure.
And despite claims by US officials that the sanctions have crippled Iran’s oil industry and reduced Iranian crude oil exports to a trickle estimated at 220,000 barrels a day (b/d), evidence suggests that Iran has been managing to export around 1.0 million barrels a day (mbd) by one way or another.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London