US Says It Is Reimposing UN Sanctions On Iran But Others Say It's Not Possible

The U.S. announced on Wednesday, September 17, that it is planning to impose sanctions on countries violating the U.N. arms embargo on Iran, which were otherwise expiring in October 2020 as agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal.

According to Elliott Abrams, U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran, U.S. may plan to deny entry to U.S. markets to anyone who trades in weapons with Iran.

“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,” Abrams said when asked whether the U.S. is “making concrete plans now for secondary sanctions” to bring the arms embargo enforcement.

Iran has long been accused by the administration led by the U.S. President Donald Trump of developing nuclear weapons. However, the Middle Eastern country has always denied the claims made by Washington.

The parties to the nuclear deal, including the U.K., Germany, Russia, China and France, as well as the U.N. Security Council have said following the announcement that they don’t think that the U.S. can reimpose the U.N. sanctions.

“It’s like pulling a trigger and no bullet comes out,” said one of the senior U.N. Security Council diplomat, who requested his name to remain anonymous while making the statement. “There will be no snapback, the sanctions will remain suspended, the JCPOA (nuclear deal) will remain in place.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also told reporters that Washington will do anything it can to ensure that the sanctions are imposed.

Meanwhile, some diplomats say that a few nations may decide to impose U.N. sanctions on Iran.