UN Security Council has not yet confirmed if its on board with US enforced sanctions.
State Department officials said Wednesday that it will push forward with U.S. sanctions against Iran, and will impose sanctions on anyone who violates the United Nations arms embargo – despite its expiration next month under the 2015 nuclear deal.
U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran Elliott Abrams said there could be repercussions for the international community if they tried to engage in arms trade with Iran, as the Middle Eastern country is believed by U.S. security officials to have been developing nuclear arms.
Iran has denied any participation in the development of their nuclear arsenals.
But the other parties to the nuclear deal – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – and most of the U.N. Security Council have said they do not believe the United States can reimpose the U.N. sanctions.
“It’s like pulling a trigger and no bullet comes out,” a senior U.N. Security Council diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
“There will be no snapback, the sanctions will remain suspended, the JCPOA (nuclear deal) will remain in place.”
Asked if Washington is “making concrete plans now for secondary sanctions” to enforce the arms embargo, Abrams told, “We are, in many ways, and we will have some announcements over the weekend and more announcements on Monday and then subsequent days next week.”
Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters, “We’ll do all the things we need to do to ensure that those sanctions are enforced.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday described the opposition to Washington as a “victory of the Iranian nation and the disgraceful defeat of the United States in activation of the snapback mechanism.”