Russia wisecracks US just before JCPOA Joint Commission meeting

 Mikhail Ulyanov

London, Sept 1, IRNA – Russian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov in a sarcastic Twitter post on Tuesday reacted to the latest US claim about its contributions to the Iranian nuclear deal while trying to force the UNSC to return sanctions on Iran.

He stressed that “all real (not self- proclaimed)” participants of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action are present at the Joint Commission meeting."

“The meeting of the Joint Commission on JCPOA with participation of all real (not self- proclaimed) participants of the nuclear deal will start in Vienna in a few hours,” wrote Ulyanov.

“Consultations in different formats are already under way.”

The JCPOA Joint Commission meeting is to be held on Tuesday at 11:00 local time in Vienna at the level of deputy foreign ministers and directors general of Foreign Ministries of the participant states.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Araqchi arrived in Vienna on Monday and has had some bilateral meetings so far. He is also scheduled to hold a meeting with Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi. He has already met with a number of missions including Ulyanova and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

US President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and restored US sanctions on Iran in May 2018. Washington has also been trying hard to restore all international sanctions, which has been turned down by the UNSC members.

Last June, the White House announced that it would present a resolution to the UNSC to extend Iran’s arms embargo, which was roundly turned down on August 15. Only the US and Dominican Republic gave a yes to the draft resolution. The incident is considered a humiliating failure for US diplomacy system.

Then on August 21, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a letter to the UN for snapback invocation against Iran in order to bring back in 30 days the sanctions lifted by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the UNSCR 2231, which was rejected by four permanent and nine non-permanent members of the Security Council in the first 24 hours after. They voiced that Washington’s demand has no legal basis.