Washington 0
19 September 2020

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared “the return of virtually all previously terminated UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran” following the contested U.S. claim to initiating the snapback process. “In addition to the arms embargo”, Pompeo explained, “this includes restrictions such as the ban on Iran engaging in enrichment and reprocessing-related activities, the prohibition on ballistic missile testing and development by Iran and sanctions on the transfer of nuclear- and missile-related technologies to Iran, among others”. He further warned that “if UN Member States fail to fulfill their obligations to implement these sanctions, the U.S. is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures”. “Our maximum pressure campaign on the Iranian regime will continue until Iran reaches a comprehensive agreement with us to rein in its proliferation threats and stops spreading chaos, violence and bloodshed”, Pompeo asserted. Iran’s Foreign Ministry maintained that the U.S. position was “groundless and invalid and lacks any legal effect”, and warned: “if the U.S. makes any move in line with these threats, whether alone or in cahoots with the few cronies of its own, it will be met with serious reaction and will be responsible for all the dangerous consequences of its move”.

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