TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran and the West are competing over Tehran’s alleged drone sales to Russia for the war in Ukraine, a factor now linked to a United Nations solution that backs the country’s nuclear deal with world powers.
UN Security Council Resolution 2231 was unanimously passed in 2015 to endorse the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement Iran signed with China, Russia, the U. S. and China, Russia, and China, Russia, Russia, and Russia, and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia,The U. S. , the U. K. , France and Germany to get sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions. Nuclear program
The United States unilaterally abandoned the agreement in 2018 and imposed harsh sanctions that are in place today. Efforts since April 2021 to repair the deal have stalled.
European powers will now use a periodic reporting mechanism in the resolution. Last week, they asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to investigate Iran’s alleged drone sales to Russia, a claim Tehran has consistently denied.
The United States said the alleged export of “suicide drones” used in Ukraine could constitute a violation of the resolution.
The JCPOA included a ban on Iran’s traditional arms exports, which expired in October 2020 despite U. S. opposition. It still maintains a ban on ballistic missile-related activities, which will expire in October 2023.
Western powers say Tehran may be violating obligations restricting missile proliferation, which, if proven, could cause a “rollback” mechanism that would reinstate foreign sanctions against Iran.
Unsurprisingly, Tehran rejected the call for a UN investigation based on the JCPOA resolution. Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani strongly condemned him on Saturday.
On Monday, Kanani reiterated Tehran’s position that it has not provided Moscow with Shahed-136 suicide drones or other munitions for the war in Ukraine despite sharing “defense cooperation” with the Kremlin.
He also denied a White House claim that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had sent a corps of workers to Russia-annexed Crimea to help operate the drones.
But senior officials, in addition to the country’s ideal leader and president, boasted of Iran’s military prowess with a senior Revolutionary Guard commander who said last week that 22 countries were looking to buy Iranian drones. He did not call those nations.
“As of today, by implementing its sanctions, I authorize the European Union to identify and seize all my assets in banks around the world and spend them to buy coal from European citizens because a harsh winter is coming,” Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff. of Iran’s armed forces, he said Monday in a mockery in reaction to sanctions imposed on him and others across Britain.
The link between the nuclear deal settlement and the war in Ukraine continues as talks to fix the JCPOA remain in limbo and Iran and the West send other signals.
Proximity talks between Iran and the U. S. that gave the impression of being on the verge of crossing the finish line about two months ago caused another stalemate last month. month.
The protests that erupted in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in mid-September cast a shadow over them, with Iran accusing the West of “inciting unrest” and the West enforcing human rights sanctions and calling on Tehran to end what it called a “brutal crackdown on protests. “
While the United States has said nuclear talks are a priority right now, Iran has presented an absolutely different narrative.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Saturday that he had obtained a message from the United States through an intermediary 3 days earlier that showed that Washington is, in fact, “in a hurry” to reach a deal on the nuclear deal.
“The Americans seek to exert political and mental pressure to extract concessions in the talks,” Amirabdollahian said, pointing to the factor behind an unresolved investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into synthetic nuclear energy discovered at several Iranian sites.
Iran demanded the closure of the investigation before reaching an agreement.
Tehran says the IAEA is acting under political pressure from the West and Israel in its pursuit of the investigation, but the nuclear watchdog has maintained that the way to close the investigation is through Iran’s full cooperation.
Last September, Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, officially relaunched talks with the IAEA in Vienna, and the procedure appears to be continuing.
“Fortunately, we are on the right track in terms of technical discussions and cooperation with the firm despite the misdeeds of the lobby of the [Israeli] Zionist regime,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Kanani said Monday.
Amirabdollahian, quoted by Iranian state media on Monday, said defense cooperation between Tehran and Moscow would continue.
“If we are shown that Iranian drones are being used in Ukraine’s war against the people, we will not have to remain indifferent,” Amirabdollahian said.
On Sunday, Amirabdollahian had a phone call about the nuclear talks with his Omani counterpart, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, who, along with Qatar, relayed messages between Tehran and Washington.