Delegates attend a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria, on July 28, 2019. The remaining Iran nuclear deal signatories reaffirmed their commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and criticized the United States for its unilateral sanctions , according to Chinese delegate Fu Cong, director general of the Department of Arms Control at the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Photo:Xinhua

The US call on the UN Security Council to reimpose sanctions on Iran is a purely political maneuver to achieve its political goals, and pushing for the resolution or delivering a letter to the council cannot justify its move, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday. 

China, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, Iran and other parties have written to the President of the Security Council, expressing their opposition to the US move for "snapback" sanctions on Iran, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at Friday's media briefing.

The US has broken its commitments, withdrawn from international organizations, undermined multilateralism and the authority of the Security Council, as well as the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, Zhao said. 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on Thursday that he delivered a letter to the UN Security Council President to formally notify the council on the snapback sanctions on Iran. 

Thirteen Security Council members voted against the US resolution to extend a 13-year arms embargo on Iran at the Security Council last week, and the US only got one vote of support, Zhao said. 

This shows that the US position runs counter to the broad consensus of the international community, and the US attempt to undermine the Iran nuclear deal is unlikely to succeed, Zhao said. 

Zhao said that because the US withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, it was not in a position to ask the council to allow "snapback" sanctions. 

Pompeo also threatened to sanction China and Russia after they voted against the US resolution last week, which Chinese analysts called "farcical" and "unreasonable," and said China and Russia will not be intimidated, and instead take a firmer stance to block the US sanctions. This is another example that China and Russia have become two important countries to improve the US-dominated world order and make it more balanced, inclusive and equal, Chinese analysts said.

Global Times