Claims by Western countries that the UN Secretariat can review violations of Security Council Resolution 2231 on Iran's nuclear program are not true, there are signs of this in some related documents, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said on Wednesday.
"Time after time, we hear from Western delegations that the UN Secretariat is allegedly authorized to monitor the implementation of Resolution 2231. These statements are not true," he said in an address to the UN Security Council.
Nebenzya pointed out that the note by the UN Security Council President S/2016/44, titled "Tasks of the Security Council in the context of resolution 2231," explicitly states that "the Security Council itself is authorized to monitor the implementation of this document." In addition, the document also states loud and clear that "it is the Council that responds to member states' requests regarding the implementation of the resolution and responds when it receives information about possible violations."
The head of the Russian diplomatic mission also pointed to the fifth paragraph of the aforementioned note, which stipulates that the Council should seek to make decisions related to the fulfillment of its functions in the context of resolution 2231 by consensus. "This means that any action in relation to the functions in paragraph 2, whether to monitor implementation of the resolution or to deal with information about possible violations of the resolution, requires a separate decision of the Security Council," he said. - "No such decision has been taken by the Council in relation to the allegations of Iranian and Russian violations of Resolution 2231. Moreover, it is clear that the Council's members are fundamentally divided on this issue."
The document also points out, Nebenzya stressed, that the UN Secretariat can perform other tasks only if so instructed by the council. "No such additional assignment, especially in terms of investigation, has been given by the Council to the Secretariat," he stated.
Violations by the US
The US has been violating UN Security Council Resolution 2231 on Iran for four years by withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Tehran's nuclear program, Nebenzya said.
The behavior of Western delegations is "another manifestation of blatant hypocrisy and double standards," the Russian permanent representative said. "They present themselves everywhere as the main advocates of compliance with the UN Charter, include calls to uphold the principles of the UN Charter in various non-core resolutions of the General Assembly, accuse other UN members of violating it," Nebenzya noted.
At the same time, he said, "when they need it, the same members of the Security Council, who just two weeks ago in this room were vehemently arguing the need to defend the UN Charter, today openly violate it themselves and push the UN Secretariat." "And for the United States, which has been violating resolution 2231 itself for four years now by unilaterally withdrawing from the JCPOA in 2018, this is just some new, unprecedented level of disregard for the Charter and Security Council decisions at the UN. Unfortunately, the secretariat is not really resisting such blatant political pressure," the diplomat said.
"Today we haven't heard anything legal in the statements of those countries that have requested an investigation from the Secretariat. We have heard the same sly talk about the Secretariat's obligation to respond to member states' requests," said the Russian ambassador. "It was especially touching to hear accusations of Russia's violation of Resolution 2231 from the United States, the main violator of the resolution," Nebenzya noted.
"The Secretariat should respond to requests of member countries, but act on the basis of a clear mandate and the UN Charter, and not on the wishes of individual countries," the Russian diplomat stated.
Allegations about deliveries of Iranian military hardware
In August, The Washington Post published an article claiming that Iran was supplying Russia with UAVs. Subsequently, similar allegations were made by US administration officials. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov called such reports fake.
Peskov also said that the Kremlin has no information about the purchase of Iranian drones by Russia; this question should be readdressed to the defense ministry. He stressed that Russia uses domestically produced UAVs.
In late September, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that Tehran did not support any of the parties to the conflict in Ukraine and opposed foreign arms supplies to both Kiev and Moscow.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Zuma\TASS
Based on materials from TASS