US Remains Defiant, Promises New Sanctions After UN Rejects Anti-Iran
Measures
According to the State Department, it was the world that was wrong, not
Washington. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the decision to reject
their "reasonable resolution" and side with "the world's leading state
sponsor of terrorism" as "inexcusable."
by Alan Macleod
August 17th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
The latest chapter in the sometimes Orwellian world of Middle Eastern
politics occurred this weekend, as the Trump administration, which
unilaterally walked away from Obama's Iran deal, attempted to convince the
world to enact a global arms embargo on the Islamic Republic, citing the
very treaty it had itself destroyed. President Trump said he was unlikely to
attend any proposed multilateral meetings, while his ambassador to the
United Nations, Kelly Craft, was more explicit, stating that "in the coming
days, the United States will follow through" on its threat to trigger
supposed "snapback" sanctions on the embattled Middle Eastern nation.
Washington's attempts to push through a worldwide arms embargo
unsurprisingly fell flat at the United Nations on Friday, with only the
Dominican Republic backing Washington's punitive proposals, and all other
members of the 15-country Security Council abstaining, or voting against it.
Iran had been in compliance with the treaty until the U.S. left. The deal
saw Tehran give up 80 percent of its nuclear power program in exchange for
sanctions relief. Instead, the sanctions only increased.
Remarking on the American attempts to further squeeze Iran, Zhang Jun,
China's ambassador to the UN, said that they have, "no legal ground and
common sense," and that the U.S. is "shattering its own credibility." "Once
again [this] shows that unilateralism receives no support and bullying will
fail," he concluded. Ryan Costello, Policy Director with the National
Iranian American Council, agreed. "If the Trump administration's goals were
to isolate the United States, alienate close allies and have high-risk
diplomatic maneuvers blow up in their face, the maximum pressure approach is
delivering in spades," he wrote, calling the White House's attempts to
appeal to a treaty it had defamed and abandoned as "preposterous and without
precedent."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was happy about the result, stating, "I
don't remember the United States preparing a resolution for months to strike
a blow at the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it garners only one vote. But
the great success was that the United States was defeated in this conspiracy
with humiliation."
According to the State Department, it was the world that was wrong, not
Washington. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the decision to reject
their "reasonable resolution" and side with "the world's leading state
sponsor of terrorism" as "inexcusable." "We will continue to work to ensure
that the theocratic terror regime does not have the freedom to purchase and
sell weapons that threaten the heart of Europe, the Middle East and beyond,"
the Secretary of State concluded. By "the heart of Europe," Pompeo is
presumably referring to coastal Bulgaria and the eastern part of the Greek
island of Crete, some of the only European lands in range of the much-hyped
Iranian missile "threat."
US Role in Destabilizing Yemen and Somalia Could Spark "Famine of Biblical
Proportions"
The World Food Program is warning that Yemen and countries in the Horn of
Africa could face mass famine amid the coronavirus pandemic.
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Apr 23
While according to Pompeo, Iran alone appears to sponsor terror, he also
presented Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf monarchies as forces for
peace, stability and human rights in the region. In reality, Israel is
currently bombing Gaza again, while Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of
Gulf states (backed by Washington) in prosecuting a deadly war in Yemen,
leading to what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis,
where 24 million people need humanitarian assistance and 14 million are at
risk of starvation. And while an Iran equipped with nuclear weapons could
make the region more dangerous, many of its neighbors, such as Pakistan and
India already possess them. Meanwhile, Israel has up to 200 nuclear weapons,
all "pointed at Iran," according to leaked emails from Pompeo's predecessor
Colin Powell, with both the U.S. and Israel helping Saudi Arabia with their
own nuclear weapons ambitions.
Trump Admin Complementing Israeli Effort to Give Nuclear Weapons to Saudi
Arabia
Riyadh has long coveted atomic weaponry and has considered developing its
own in its quest to maintain Saudi military dominance in the region.
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Mar 29, 2019
The U.S. has stepped up its efforts against Iran of late, strongly
supporting the suppressed demonstrations in Tehran in November,
assassinating General Qassem Soleimani in January, and appointing notorious
Iran-Contra figure Elliott Abrams as the president's new envoy to the
country. With what has been invested in regime change in Iran, it is not
likely that the UN ruling will mean the end of U.S. actions against Iran. In
fact, it could be just the beginning.
Feature photo | A shopkeeper arranges items in a