Iran to ask UNSC to support final nuclear deal

Iran is to ask the UN Security Council to support the potential nuclear deal with P5+1 countries, the country’s foreign minister said yesterday.

The Anadolu Agency reported Mohammad Javad Zarif saying that the request would be made either on the same day of reaching the deal or a few days later. This would include lifting the sanctions on Iran.

While hosted by New America and the NYU Centre for International Cooperation, Zarif said that “a few days” after the signing of a final nuclear agreement, there will be a UN Security Council resolution that “terminates all previous resolutions, including all sanctions.”

He said that would “set in place the cessation of [European Union] sanctions and the termination of US sanctions.”

Zarif did not ignore the fact that there might be a strong possibility that US domestic politics would slow the termination of sanctions, but emphasised that “the president has the responsibility to bring the other bodies of government in line.”

He added that there are several important issues to be treated in the final agreement, stressing that the final deal might be ready by June 30 or a few days before or after.

About the Israeli nuclear weapons, Zarif said that some countries in the Middle East had restricted the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency. So that, he said, Iran has the right to do the same thing.

He stressed on the importance to maintain a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, noting that such weapons are existed in Israel. He condemned the international silence towards the Israeli stockpile of nuclear weapons.

Regarding Yemen, Zarif said that Yemenis have to determine their future themselves. Adding that it is “absolutely not right” to make a room for foreign states.

He reiterated that the ceasefire announced in Yemen was not real. The situation in the country is still “deteriorating” and Saudi Arabian planes are still banning Iranian planes carrying humanitarian aid from landing in Yemen.

About claims that Iran is trying to run the country, Zarif said: “No one can run Yemen from abroad.”

In Syria, Zarif said: “The main reason for the almost four year old war is the preconditions put for negotiations between the two sides of the conflict.”

He added that the conflict “should be left to the Syrian people to decide,” albeit through a process that stakeholders like Iran and Saudi Arabia could mediate.

“Iran is a main player in the region,” he said. “We want to be involved in the discussions about the region’s affairs.”