By John Irish, Parisa Hafezi, Rodrigo Campos and Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -United Nations sanctions on Iran are set to be reimposed on Saturday, Britain’s U.N. envoy said on Friday after a Russian and Chinese Security Council resolution to delay them failed, prompting Tehran to warn that the West bore responsibility for any consequences.
The decision to restore sanctions by Western powers is likely to exacerbate tensions with Tehran, which has already warned that the action would be met with a harsh response and open the door to escalation.
The Russian and Chinese push to delay the return of sanctions on Iran failed at the 15-member U.N. Security Council after only four countries supported their draft resolution.
“This council does not have the necessary assurance that there is a clear path to a swift diplomatic solution,” Britain’s envoy to the United Nations, Barbara Wood, said after the vote.
“This council fulfilled the necessary steps of the snapback process set out in resolution 2231, therefore U.N. sanctions targeting Iranian proliferation will be reimposed this weekend,” she said.
UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS RETURN ON SATURDAY
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told a group of journalists and analysts that Iran had no intention to leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a reaction to the revival of the U.N. sanctions.
“Iran will never seek nuclear weapons … We are fully prepared to be transparent about our highly enriched uranium,” Pezeshkian said.
All U.N. sanctions on Iran are due to return at 8 p.m. EDT on Saturday (0000 GMT) after European powers, known as the E3, triggered a 30-day process accusing Tehran of violating a 2015 deal meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.
Diplomats had said the resolution to delay sanctions for six months had been unlikely to pass, after last-ditch talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany failed to break a deadlock.
Nine countries voted no, while two abstained.
Following what it said was European states’ “irresponsible” reinstatement of the snapback mechanism, Iran recalled on Saturday its ambassadors to Germany, France and the United Kingdom for consultation, state media reported.
Russia’s deputy envoy to the United Nations accused the Western powers of burying the diplomatic path.
US BETRAYED DIPLOMACY, E3 BURIED IT, IRAN SAYS
“The U.S. has betrayed diplomacy, but it is the E3 which have buried it,” Araqchi told the council, saying the snapback was “legally void, politically reckless and procedurally flawed.”
“Diplomacy will never die, but it will be more difficult and more complicated than before,” he told reporters after the Security Council meeting.
The European powers had offered to delay reinstating sanctions for up to six months to allow space for talks on a long-term deal if Iran restored access for U.N. nuclear inspectors, addressed concerns about its stock of enriched uranium, and engaged in talks with the United States.
The U.S. representative at the council said Iran had failed to address E3 concerns meaning a return of sanctions was inevitable, although she left the door open for diplomacy.
France said the return of sanctions was not the end of diplomacy.
U.N. sanctions would come into force immediately on Saturday, while European Union sanctions would return next week.
Iran’s economy is already struggling with crippling sanctions reimposed since 2018 after U.S. President Donald Trump ditched the pact during his first term.
The sanctions would restore an arms embargo, a ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing, a ban on activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, a global asset freeze and travel bans on Iranian individuals and entities and would also hit its energy sector.
Addressing the U.N. General Assembly earlier on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country bombed Iran’s nuclear installations with the United States in June, said the world should not allow Iran to rebuild its nuclear and military programs.
“We lifted a dark cloud that could have claimed millions and millions of lives, but ladies and gentlemen, we must remain vigilant,” Netanyahu told the General Assembly on Friday.
“We must not allow Iran to rebuild its military nuclear capacities, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. These stockpiles must be eliminated, and tomorrow U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran must be snapped back,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Howard Goller and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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