US says UN sanctions on Iran back as allies, rivals object; rial falls

Rial fell to a record low against US dollar in the grey market on Sunday

The US said international sanctions on Iran are automatically “snapping back” in a move that most nations say the Trump administration doesn’t have the authority to demand since quitting a 2015 nuclear deal two years ago.

“Sanctions are being re-imposed on Iran,” Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a statement late on Saturday. “The US expects all UN member states to fully comply with their obligations to implement these measures.”

That’s unlikely to happen.

Since quitting the nuclear accord in 2018, the Trump administration has plowed ahead with efforts to undermine the deal, ratcheting up sanctions on the Islamic Republic and even threatening allies if they do business with Tehran. Yet instead of rallying allies to its side, the US moves have united partners like the UK, France and Germany with Russia and China, all of whom have sought to salvage the accord. Their support for the deal has left the US isolated on the United Nations Security Council, and most nations say America has no authority to demand the return of international sanctions since it’s no longer a party to the deal.

The US asserts that all of the UN resolutions on Iran that were in place before the 2015 deal — from a ban on arm deals to restrictions on the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile activity and its nuclear enrichment — should have gone back into effect as of 8 pm New York time on Saturday.

Meanwhile, France, Germany and the UK have said in a joint statement on Sunday that US has no authority to demand a snap-back in sanctions against Iran after quitting the 2015 nuclear deal two years ago. 

Iran’s rial hits record low

The Iranian rial fell to a record low against the US dollar on the unofficial market on Sunday, a day after the Trump’s administration declared all United Nations sanctions on Tehran had been restored.

The dollar was offered for as much as 273,000 rials, up from 267,800 rials on Saturday, according to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com, which tracks the unofficial market. Iran has dismissed the US move as "void and illegal" and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Saturday he cannot take any action on the US declaration because "there would appear to be uncertainty" on the issue.