Security Council snapsback to U.S. demand for ‘snapback’ Iran sanctions

 

The U.S. once had great influence in the United Nations. For the first 58 years after its creation in 1945, the U.S. exerted enormous influence over world affairs at the UN. But in 2003 the U.S., through Secretary of State Colin Powell, told the UN egregious lies to justify its upcoming criminal war against Iraq that neither any country, nor the UN could stop. Hundreds of thousands of deaths later Iraq has been smashed into a failed state, along with Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Yemen; all targets of U.S. aggression. The UN has finally learned its lesson. The U.S. is a warmongering power never tiring of promoting murder and mayhem throughout the Middle East and Africa.

There was a pause in this insanity in 2015 with the U.S. led Iran nuclear agreement which took war with Iran off the table and began its re-integration into the world community. But Trump used re-engaging in Iran regime change as a signature campaign issue in 2016. With his election this was one promise he kept, withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran agreement. Trump assumed it would force Iran to capitulate to outrageous U.S. demands. When that failed Trump proposed using the ‘Snapback’ provisions of the nuclear agreement to re-impose crippling sanctions withdrawn by Iranian agreement compliance. The 15 member UN Security Council, representing overwhelming world opinion, found this proposal preposterous; America can’t invoke an agreement it walked away from as a horrible agreement. The vote in the Security Council was 13 to 2 against re-imposing sanctions, a stark measure of how far U.S. influence has fallen. Only tiny Dominican Republic joined to U.S. to re-impose Iranian sanctions.

Like Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in ‘Casablanca’, President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo can commiserate thusly: “We’ll always have Dominican Republic”.