By Michelle Nichols
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The president of the U.N. Security Council, Indonesia, said on Tuesday it was “not in the position to take further action” on a U.S. bid to trigger a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran because there is no consensus in the 15-member body.
Thirteen council members expressed their opposition on Friday, arguing that Washington’s move is void given it is using a process agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that it quit two years ago.
Indonesia’s U.N. Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani, council president for August, was responding to a question from Russia and China on the issue during a meeting on the Middle East.
U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft hit back after Djani spoke.
“Let me just make it really, really clear: the Trump administration has no fear in standing in limited company on this matter,” she told the council. “I only regret that other members of this council have lost their way and now find themselves standing in the company of terrorists.”
It was not immediately clear if the assessment by Indonesia would end the U.S. push to reimpose all international sanctions on Iran, a 30-day process that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he triggered on Thursday by lodging a complaint with the council accusing Iran of breaching the 2015 nuclear deal.
The United States argues that it can trigger the process – known as snapback – because a 2015 Security Council resolution that enshrines the nuclear deal still names it as a participant.
The United States acted after the Security Council resoundingly rejected its Aug. 14 attempt to extend an arms embargo on Iran beyond its expiration in October. Only the Dominican Republic joined Washington in voting yes.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell)
