TEHRAN — The chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has urged the international community to stand up to the United States’ unilateral and illegal measures such as repeated violations of international treaties.

“Standing up to the U.S.’s unilateral and illegal measures, including its repeated violations of international treaties such as environmental treaties, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and Barjam (nuclear deal), is a necessary move so as to prevent that country from further violations in the world stage,” Mojtaba Zonnour said on Monday, Mehr reported.

Zonnour made the remarks in a meeting with visiting President of the Swiss National Council's Foreign Affairs Committee Tiana Moser and member of the Council of States and President of the Council of States Security Policy Committee Thomas Minder in Tehran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to the historic, friendly ties between Iran and Switzerland, saying, “The development of parliamentary ties between the Swiss and Iranian parliaments, especially between their National Security and Foreign Policy Commissions, will play an effective role in facilitating and expanding interactions between the two countries."

“Making use of the capabilities of the two countries will help the two sides further develop mutual economic, scientific, environmental and humanitarian cooperation,” he added.

Switzerland represents the United States’ interests in Iran, and also hosts a so-called humanitarian channel, known as the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), that is meant to help Tehran avoid American sanctions. 

The meeting comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington, with the latter having recently resorted to a political ploy to reimpose the UN sanctions on Iran under the 2015 nuclear agreement it ditched in May 2018.

The U.S. move, which comes under a mechanism commonly known as “snapback”, has been rejected vehemently as illegal by other parties to the deal, including Iran on the one side and Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany on the other.

MH/PA