Latest news with #UNsanctions
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 days ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
European Powers May Restore UN Sanctions on Iran
The European troika, known as the E3, may restore UN sanctions on Iran under the snapback mechanism, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Tuesday, warning that the move could increase Tehran's suffering unless it takes a serious stance on stepping back from its nuclear program. Speaking to the UK parliament's foreign affairs select committee, Lammy said: 'Iran faces even more pressure in the coming weeks because the E3 can snap back on our sanctions, and it's not just our sanctions, it's actually a UN mechanism that would impose dramatic sanctions on Iran across nearly every single front in its economy.' 'So they have a choice to make. It's a choice for them to make. I'm very clear about the choice they should make, but I'm also clear that the UK has a decision to make that could lead to far greater pain for the Iranian regime unless they get serious about the international desire to see them step back from their nuclear ambitions,' he added. Meanwhile, a French diplomatic source told Reuters on Tuesday that European powers would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests. The source spoke after a call between French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Lammy ahead of a Franco-British summit. Last Thursday, France threatened 'retaliatory measures' against Tehran if it persisted with new charges against a French couple held in Iran, including accusations that they spied for Israel. Snapback Mechanism France, Britain and Germany - the E3 – are threatening to activate the snapback mechanism that would reinstate all United Nations Security Council sanctions previously levied on Iran. According to diplomats, the E3 countries may trigger the snapback by August if no substantial deal can be found by then. The window closes on October 18. UN resolution 2231 allows a State Party to the agreement to address a complaint to the Security Council about significant non-performance by another JCPOA participant. Within 30 days of receiving such a notification, the UN Security Council shall vote on a draft resolution to either maintain the termination of previous sanctions or allow them to be reimposed. European powers are considering triggering the snapback mechanism after Iran's decision to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Al Arabiya
4 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
European powers would restore UN sanctions on Iran if no nuclear deal, French source says
European powers would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests, a French diplomatic source said on Tuesday.
CTV News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Iran assesses the damage and lashes out after Israeli and U.S. strikes damage its nuclear sites
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran is assessing the damage and lashing out over the American and Israeli airstrikes on its nuclear sites, though Tehran kept open the possibility Tuesday of resuming talks with the Washington over its atomic program. The comments by government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani also included another acknowledgment that the American strikes at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz — key sites within Iran's program — had been 'seriously damaged' by the bombing. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted Mohajerani as making the remarks at a briefing for journalists. That acknowledgment comes as Iran's theocracy has slowly begun to admit the scale of the damage wrought by the 12-day war with Israel, which saw Israeli fighter jets decimate the country's air defenses and conduct strikes at will over the Islamic Republic. And keeping the door open to talks with the United States likely shows Tehran wants to avoid further economic pain as another deadline over UN sanctions loom. 'No date (for U.S. talks) is announced, and it's not probably very soon, but a decision hasn't been made in this field,' Mohajerani said. Iran offers rising death toll Israeli airstrikes, which began June 13, decimated the upper ranks of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and targeted its arsenal of ballistic missiles. The strikes also hit Iran's nuclear sites, which Israel claimed put Tehran within reach of a nuclear weapon. U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent. On Monday, Iranian judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir offered a sharply increased, government-issued death toll from the war. He said that the Israeli attacks killed 935 'Iranian citizens,' including 38 children and 102 women, IRNA reported. 'The enemy aimed to change the country's circumstances by assassinating military commanders and scientists, intending to spread fear and exert pressure,' Jahangir added. However, he asserted — like others up to 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — that Iran had 'won' the war. Iran has a long history of offering lower death counts around unrest over political considerations. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has put the death toll at 1,190 people killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members. The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said. Activity seen at Iran's Fordo facility Meanwhile, it appears that Iranian officials now are assessing the damage done by the American strikes conducted on the three nuclear sites on June 22, namely those at Fordo, a site built under a mountain about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Tehran. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show Iranian officials at Fordo on Monday likely examining the damage caused by American bunker busters. Trucks could be seen in the images, as well as at least one crane and an excavator at tunnels on the site. That corresponded to images shot Sunday by Maxar Technologies similarly showing the ongoing work. The tunnels likely had been filled in by Iran before the strikes to protect the facility. The presence of trucks before the attacks has raised questions about whether any enriched uranium or centrifuges had been spirited away before the attack, something repeatedly claimed by Iranian officials. Even before the strikes, the IAEA warned that its inspectors had lost their 'continuity of knowledge' regarding the program, meaning material could be at undeclared sites in the country. Iran hasn't said what work is ongoing at the sites, though it has said that the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran planned to issue a report about the damage done by the strikes. Hard-liners lash out Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, whose profile sharply rose during the war, also has kept open the possibility of talks with the U.S. However, hard-liners within Iran are increasingly criticizing any effort at negotiations or cooperation with the West. Iran's hard-line Kayhan newspaper, in a piece written by its Khamenei-appointed managing editor Hossein Shariatmadari, mocked any possible talks Tuesday by saying being a 'traitor or stupid are two sides of the same coin.' Shariatmadari's newspaper on Saturday also suggested that the IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi, should be 'tried and executed' if he visited Iran — something that drew immediate criticism from European nations and others. Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
NHK
02-06-2025
- General
- NHK
N.Korea denounces monitoring team's report as 'political provocation'
North Korea has harshly criticized an 11-nation team monitoring UN sanctions on Pyongyang, accusing the group of committing "political provocation" with a report it says obstruct the country's ties with Russia. Last Thursday, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team released its report for the first time. The team was created after a UN Security Council panel of experts tasked with monitoring the implementation of sanctions against the North ceased its activities last year. Russia used its veto to block the panel's activities. Japan, the United States and South Korea are among the countries that formed the 11-nation team. The North Korean foreign ministry on Monday issued a statement from the chief of its External Policy Office saying the report is trying to obstruct the cooperative relations between North Korea and Russia. The statement commented on military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow described in the report. It said it is a legitimate exercise of a sovereign right based on a comprehensive strategic partnership, which requires mutual military assistance in the case of an armed attack against either country. The statement stressed that North Korea has the right to take strong countermeasures to defend its interests from any encroachment on its sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs. The monitoring team reported that North Korea unlawfully transferred ballistic missiles to Russia last year in violation of UN resolutions. The report says Russia is believed to have provided the North with air defense systems and advanced electronic warfare systems, including jamming equipment.
The Independent
30-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
North Korea accused of ramping up military aid to Russia in clear breach of UN sanctions, say US and allies
The United States and 10 allies on Thursday said the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea flagrantly violates U.N. sanctions and has helped Moscow increase its missile strikes on Ukrainian cities. They made the accusations in their first report since joining forces to monitor sanctions against North Korea after Russia vetoed a resolution in March 2024 to continue the monitoring by a U.N. Security Council panel of experts. It had been issuing reports of Pyongyang's sanctions violations since 2010. The 29-page report produced by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team — comprised of the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Kingdom — said the evidence it gathered demonstrates that North Korea and Russia have engaged in 'myriad unlawful activities' explicitly prohibited by U.N. sanctions resolutions. It said North Korea has transferred arms and related materiel by sea, air and rail, including artillery, ballistic missiles and combat vehicles, for Russia's use in the war in Ukraine. Russia has transferred air defense systems to North Korea, and its forces trained the North's troops deployed to support Russia's war, the team said. And Moscow also has supplied refined petroleum products to Pyongyang in far excess of the yearly cap under U.N. sanctions, and has maintained corresponding banking relations with the North in violation of sanctions. The 11 countries said this unlawful cooperation has 'contributed to Moscow's ability to increase its missile attacks against Ukrainian cities including targeted strikes against critical civilian infrastructure.' The cooperation also has provided resources for North Korea to fund its military and banned ballistic missile programs., and it allowed the more than 11,000 troops Pyongyang has deployed to Russia since October 2024 to gain first-hand military experience, the team said. There was no immediate response from the Russian Mission to the United Nations to a request for comment on the report. The report covers the period between Jan. 1, 2024, and April 30, 2025, and points to evidence that Russia and North Korea intend to further deepen their military cooperation for at least the foreseeable future. It cites an unnamed country in the team reporting that Russian-flagged cargo vessels delivered as many as 9 million rounds of ammunition for artillery and multiple rocket launchers from North Korea to Russia in 2024. The report includes images of containers, which the team says were from North Korean and Russian ports and an ammunition dump in Russia. Citing an unnamed team member, the report says North Korea last year transferred at least 100 ballistic missiles to Russia, which were launched into Ukraine 'to destroy civilian infrastructure and terrorize populated areas such as Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia." It also transferred 'elements of three brigade sets of heavy artillery,' the report said. It includes images of a North Korean 170mm self-propelled gun that it said was being transported through Russia, and North Korean multiple rocket launcher ammunition and an anti-tank missile it said were found in Ukraine. The team said in a joint statement that it will continue to monitor implementation of U.N. resolutions 'and raise awareness of ongoing attempts to violate and evade U.N. sanctions.' It urged North Korea 'to engage in meaningful diplomacy.' The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea's first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions seeking — so far unsuccessfully — to cut funds and curb its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The last sanctions resolution was adopted by the council in December 2017. China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution in May 2022 that would have imposed new sanctions over a spate of intercontinental ballistic missile launches, and have blocked all other U.N. action against North Korea.
