US Says It Has Authority to Invoke Snapback Sanctions Against Iran Despite EU Disagreement

A U.S. official again argued that the U.S. has the authority to invoke snapback sanctions under the Iran nuclear deal and threatened to impose them unless an international arms embargo against Iran is extended. Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, said the U.S. will trigger a United Nations provision to reimpose a host of international sanctions against Iran if the arms embargo, set to expire in October, is not extended. Without the embargo, Iran could import a range of advanced military weapons from China and Russia, Hook said. “One way or another, we're going to accomplish this,” he said, speaking during a June 9 virtual talk hosted by the Heritage Foundation.

If the embargo expires and Iran can “freely buy and export conventional weapons, which include attack aircrafts, tanks … it has the potential to really destabilize the Middle East,” he said. Hook also urged China and Russia to rethink potential military sales to Iran, which would likely agitate Saudi Arabia, who officials say was attacked by Iran last year (see 1909180029). “When you look at something like that, you have to ask yourself: Why would you be selling weapons to Iran that would enable it to attack countries around the region?” Hook said. “And I think this is the question that we're putting to a lot of people.”

Hook declined to say if the U.S. would consider sanctions against China and Russia for sales to Iran, calling that a “worst case” scenario. “We’re hopeful about our diplomacy,” he said. “There's a lot of innings left in this game.”

The U.S. has lobbied “a number of countries” to support the arms embargo, Hook said. “But if that effort is vetoed or opposed by any permanent member of the [UN Security Council], then we have the right … to take all of the sanctions that were lifted by the Iran nuclear deal at the United Nations and snap them back into place.” Hook first said the U.S. would invoke the snapback sanctions in a May opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.

Hook’s June 9 comments came just after Josep Borrell, the European Union’s chief of foreign policy, said the U.S. has no right to interfere in international Iran sanctions because of its 2018 withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “The United States has withdrawn from the JCPOA, and now they cannot claim that they are still part of the JCPOA in order to deal with this issue from the JCPOA agreement,” Borrell said June 9, according to an Associated Press report.

Hook argued that UNSC Resolution 2231 gives the U.S. authority. The resolution does “not say anything in there that one must be a member of the deal in order to initiate the snapback,” Hook said. “We're on very solid legal footing.” But Hook said the U.S. hopes to avoid invoking the snapback sanctions. “Our first choice is to be able to just simply extend the arms embargo,” he said. “If we cannot get agreement in the council to just simply pass a resolution that extends the arms embargo, then we will avail ourselves of those options which are legally available.”

The United Kingdom, France and Germany in January said they planned to trigger the JCPOA’s dispute settlement mechanism -- which could lead to snapback sanctions -- after repeated Iranian violations of the deal (see 2001140020). Hook said he does not know where that process stands. “We're not in charge of that,” Hook said, “but we support it.” He called the JCPOA a “distraction” and said the U.S. wants to refocus on its maximum pressure campaign against Iran. “We are spending a fair amount of time diplomatically trying to get the arms embargo extended,” he said. “We’ll do everything we can.”