America should be made to respect UN resolutions

Mohamed Javad Zarif 

Iran and other members of the international community have since May 2018 been witnessing the US persistently flouting the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 while trying to force other States to join it in violating the very text it put forward itself. 

More dangerously, and for the first time in UN history, a permanent member of the Security Council is punishing law-abiding states and private citizens for not violating a Council resolution, which emphasised, and I quote, “promoting and facilitating the development of normal economic and trade contacts and cooperation with Iran.”  

And yet, not a single Council session has been convened to reprove the US government, or to at least investigate its repeated violations.

Instead, some European members of the Council are contemplating further undermining the Resolution and the Council while further reneging on their own Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action(JCPOA) commitments.  

To cover this up, the US has with some of its enablers pressured the Secretariat to adopt a perverse reading of Resolution 2231, which is the polar opposite of the clear affirmation by the Security Council “that conclusion of the JCPOA marks a fundamental shift in its consideration of this issue.  

The US, along with its accomplices in war crimes in Yemen, have gone further in their now-infamous campaign of intimidation against international institutions.

This status quo is neither acceptable nor sustainable. The international community and the UN Security Council in particular, are facing an important decision: Do we maintain respect for the rule of law, or do we return to the law of the jungle by surrendering to the whims of an outlaw bully?  

 The unlawful US unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA and the re-imposition of its sanctions entail the US responsibility under the UNSCR 2231, UN Charter and applicable international law.

The US has also disregarded the decision of the International Court of Justice.  

It’s long overdue for the international community and in particular the UN Security Council to hold US accountable for the consequences of its wrongful acts, including its malicious endeavors to wage economic terrorism on the entire Iranian nation, willfully deprive them of food and medicine and irreparably harm their economy and their standard of living.

The US must fully compensate the Iranian people for all damages it has inflicted upon them.

While the Islamic Republic of Iran has shown, in words and deeds, our desire and preference for constructive engagement, we do not depend on others for our security, stability or prosperity. We have learned to solely depend on ourselves.

That is why more than 40 years of US pressure, whether through demonisation or war, sanctions or terror, including the cowardly assassination of our region’s counter-terrorism hero, General Qassem Soleimani—has failed to “bring Iranians to their knees” or affect our people’s decision-making calculus. — The writer is Iran Foreign Minister, through Iran Embassy in Nairobi

• UN resolutions
• UN Security Council Resolution 2231