TEHRAN – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying has said that the United States’ “illegal” attempt to trigger snapback mechanism and restore UN sanctions against Iran will not succeed.

Pointing to a JCPOA Joint Commission meeting in Vienna on Tuesday, she said the background of this meeting was that the U.S. wanted to hijack the UN Security Council to take illegal actions against Iran, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s official website quoted her as saying in a press conference on Wednesday.

“The meeting sends out an unequivocal message of upholding the JCPOA and the authority of the Security Council. All participants of the meeting stressed that when the U.S. unilaterally announced withdrawal from the JCPOA, it forfeited its right as a JCPOA participant state and with that, the right to call for a snapback of sanctions. All parties reiterated that they would continue discussing the implementation of the deal under the framework of the Joint Commission and welcomed the consensus reached on the safeguards implementation issue between the IAEA and Iran,” she said.

Hua added, “The Chinese side pointed out at the meeting that the U.S. has reneged on its international legal obligations, unilaterally walked away from the JCPOA, reinstated illegal unilateral sanctions, imposed long-arm jurisdiction against Iran, and spared no effort in obstructing other parties’ implementation of the deal.”

The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman went on to say “This is the root cause of the tensions in the Iranian nuclear situation. The U.S. illegal attempt at the Security Council has met with extensive opposition and won’t succeed.”

She said, “China reiterated its consistent position that all parties should remain committed to resolving differences through dialogue and consultation within the framework of the Joint Commission and called on all parties to support the implementation of the consensus on safeguards implementation issue between the IAEA and Iran.”

China supports the establishment of “an alternative multilateral dialogue platform on the premise of firmly safeguarding the efficacy and authority of the JCPOA on the Iranian nuclear issue, where all parties can forge new consensus on maintaining regional peace and stability,” she explained. 

Hua said China will stand on the “right side of history” and defends multilateralism and backs diplomacy to resolve issues. 

“To sum up, China will continue working with other parties to stand on the right side of the history, firmly uphold multilateralism and make relentless efforts to advance the political and diplomatic settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue.”

NA/PA