Ahead of polls, Trump’s ‘Toxic Present’ to the UN

Talmiz Ahmad From mid-August, the US has relentlessly pursued an extraordinary diplomatic initiative which has only meant defeat, isolation and humiliation for its president, secretary of state and diplomats. On 14 August, the US gave what a commentator has called a “toxic present” to the UN on its 75th anniversary when it presented a resolution before the UN Security Council (UNSC) calling for “snapback” on sanctions on Iran for violation of the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The “snapback”, if effective, would re-impose on Iran all the sanctions that it was subjected to before the finalisation of the JCPOA. These would include: suspension of all nuclear enrichment and reprocessing activities; ban on import of items facilitating these activities and development of nuclear weapon delivery systems; ban on development of ballistic missiles, and the continuation of the arms embargo on Iran that, in terms of the JCPOA, is due to expire on 18 October. The resolution was defeated at the UNSC, with only the Dominican Republic backing the US in the 15-member body.
Undaunted by this setback, the US returned to the UNSC a month later and proclaimed that the “snapback” sanctions would be in force from mid-September. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asserted that the sanctions would be enforced “as part of its [US’] responsibilities to enable peace, this time in the Middle East”. The Trump administration added that it would “impose consequences” on any UN member-state that did not comply with the sanctions reinstated by the US.
Responding to the absence of any support for the US, the US ambassador to the UN said dismissively: “We don’t need a cheering section to validate our moral compass.” “Snapback” on sanctions The US has based its approach on the “snapback” on sanctions on dubious legal basis. The US has argued that it is a “JCPOA participant” since it figures among the countries listed in the UNSC Resolution (UNSCR) 2231 that had approved the JCPOA; hence, it is entitled to initiate the “snapback” sanctions even if it has withdrawn from the JCPOA itself.
This argument has been dismissed out of hand by most commentators. As David Scheffer of the Council of Foreign Relations has pointed out, the UNSC resolution and the JCPOA are “intertwined”; the UNSCR has no independent existence. Thus, with the US having formally withdrawn from the JCPOA, it has no legal standing to trigger the snapback sanctions.