Beirut: Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday dismissed efforts by the United States and European nations to reinstate United Nations sanctions, asserting that Tehran and other member states have no obligation to adhere to resolutions that were annulled in 2015.
According to National News Agency – Lebanon, the Iranian foreign ministry released a comprehensive statement, through state media, condemning Britain, France, Germany, and the United States for “abusing” the dispute-resolution process within the 2015 nuclear deal and the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 to reintroduce restrictions. The ministry declared that the claims by the three European countries and the US regarding the revival of past resolutions that terminated under Resolution 2231 in 2015 are rejected, emphasizing that no obligation is created for UN member states, including Iran.
The statement further criticized any efforts to revive these terminated resolutions as legally unfounded, morally unacceptable, and logically flawed. The foreign ministry insisted that Resolution 2231, which ratified the nuclear deal, should expire as planned on October 18, 2025. It emphasized that the resolution and its restrictions on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program should be considered terminated on that date.
The ministry also accused European countries of “gross non-performance” of their obligations under the 2015 deal while aligning with the United States in military actions against Iranian nuclear sites in June. The statement highlighted that by supporting or implicitly backing military aggression by the Zionist regime and the US against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities, they have blatantly violated international law, the non-proliferation regime, and specifically Resolution 2231.
Iran claimed that European powers acted in bad faith by advancing a draft resolution through the Security Council, despite opposition from other signatories, including Russia, China, and Iran. The statement expressed regret that the Council president put the draft to a vote illegally, despite the clear positions of other JCPOA members.
The foreign ministry warned that Iran will firmly defend the rights and interests of the Iranian nation, and any action to harm them will meet an appropriate and decisive response.
In a separate letter, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi communicated with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Security Council President Sang Jin Kim, declaring the alleged return of sanctions as “null and void.” Araghchi urged prevention of any attempts to revive the sanctions mechanisms, including the Sanctions Committee and the Panel of Experts, arguing that none of the UN’s resources should support such illegal acts. He also highlighted procedural flaws in the European move, stating that the notification of the three European countries to trigger the so-called snapback mechanism is legally and procedurally defective, thus null and void.
Araghchi recalled past divisions in the Security Council, noting a similar US effort’s failure in 2020, when the Council was not in a position to act on the matter. He emphasized that nuclear-related restrictions under Resolution 2231 must end permanently on October 18, 2025, and Iran will not recognize any efforts to extend, revive, or enforce them afterward.
Elsewhere in the Sunday statement, the foreign ministry insisted on Iran’s “repeated commitment to dialogue and diplomacy” since 2015, implementing the deal until a year after Washington’s withdrawal in 2018. It criticized the lack of seriousness and good faith of the Europeans and the US in restoring commitments or negotiating a new understanding.
The ministry also condemned what it described as “criminal aggression” by Israel and the US against its nuclear facilities in June, which resulted in casualties and destruction. Tehran concluded that Western states had chosen confrontation and crisis-making over diplomacy, mistakenly believing they will gain new leverage by reviving terminated resolutions. History, it stated, has proven this wrong and will do so again.