US dismisses opposition to restoring UN sanctions on Iran

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration on Friday dismissed near universal opposition to its demand to restore all U.N. sanctions on Iran, declaring that a 30-day countdown for the “snapback” of penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal had begun.

U.S. allies and foes have joined forces to declare the action illegal and doomed to failure, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. special envoy for Iran Brian Hook strongly disagreed and questioned the motives of those who object.

Opponents say the U.S. lost the standing to trigger snapback when President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. Pompeo and Hook maintain that the United States retains that right and doesn’t need permission to use it.

“We don’t need anyone’s permission,” Hook told reporters in a briefing Friday. “Iran is in violation of its voluntary nuclear commitments. The condition has been met to initiate snapback. And so we have now started to initiate snapback.”

He said that “whether people support or oppose what we’re doing is not material,” adding that “today is day one of the 30-day process.”

The five countries now in dispute with the U.S. administration — Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — remain supporters of the 2015 nuclear deal, which the Obama administration backed, to rein in Iran's nuclear program and prevent its development of nuclear weapons.

The European Union announced Friday that the five nations and Iran will meet in Vienna on Sept. 1.

That agreement was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council in resolution 2231, and includes the snapback provision.

Pompeo officially informed the Security Council president and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday that the United States was invoking snapback, and has the...