TEHRAN — Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has criticized Washington’s push to invoke snapback mechanism against Iran, saying U.S. partners need to read the text of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 more carefully.

“#US mistakenly believes that para 10&11 of #UNSC res. 2231 allow US to invoke SnapBack to restore #UN #sanctions against #Iran,” Ulyanov said via Twitter on Saturday. “US partners need to read the text more carefully. Both paras clearly indicate that it can be done only through the procedures specified in JCPOA.”

“So, if US decides to initiate #SnapBack, it would need first to refer the issue to Joint Commission under #JCPOA,” he explained.

The Russian diplomat added that “for this to happen US would need to restore fully its status of a member of the Commission and ensure full compliance with JCPOA in a verifiable manner. Go ahead!”

Two years after the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, the Trump administration is looking to extend a UN ban on conventional arms sales to and from Iran, a strategy designed to kill the deal for good.

In a May 9 statement marking the second anniversary of the Donald Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged to “exercise all diplomatic options” to extend the UN ban on conventional arms sales to and from Iran beyond its current expiry date on October 18.

Ambassador Ulyanov says, “If the U.S. decides to initiate snapback sanctions it would need first to refer the issue to the Joint Commission under the JCPOA.”

Russia has leveled criticism against the U.S. for trying to kill the deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday that no country is allowed to implement the United Nations Security Council resolutions selectively.

Ryabok was openly referring to Resolution 2231 that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal but the U.S. violated it by quitting the JCPOA.
 
“No one is allowed to implement UN Security Council resolutions selectively and extremely fragmentarily,” Ryabkov told the Valdai discussion club, the UrduPoint News reported.

The actions of the United States to extend the arms embargo and launch the process of returning sanctions against Iran are “cynical” and could lead to a crisis in the UN Security Council, the top Russian diplomat said.

In a Saturday tweet, Ulyanov described the opponents of the JCPOA as “helpless and even ignorant”.

“The opponents of the #IranDeal are helpless and even ignorant. At the beginning of a dispute, they provide 2-3 counterarguments and slogans. As soon as these arguments and slogans are exhausted, they move on to insulting opponents without proper justification. Not surprising!” he wrote.

On Wednesday, Ulyanov ruled out assessment of U.S. hawks about Russia’s support for the JCPOA.

He wrote, “Do you know why Russia supports #JCPOA? Because from October, RF (Russian Federation) will be able to earn some money from supplies of weapons to #Iran. It’s not a joke. This is an assessment of hawks. We can only sympathize with Washington whose experts deliver such judgments to US administration.”

MH/PA