Iran snapback sanctions hit future deals

The Trump administration ran into immediate opposition after its top diplomat officially informed the United Nations it is demanding the restoration of all U.N. sanctions on Iran, with allies and opponents declaring the U.S. action illegal and doomed to failure.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Thursday that the United States has the legal right to "snap back" U.N. sanctions even though President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers that was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.

John Hannah, senior counsel for Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says "the strategic purpose of the policy, I think, is to actually try and sink the nuclear deal completely and to make it basically impossible if there is a change in administration come November for any new president to resurrect the deal."

Russia and China, along with European allies Britain, France and Germany, who often disagree, are united in declaring the U.S. action "illegal" on grounds that you can't withdraw from a deal and then use the resolution that endorsed it to re-impose sanctions.

How this dispute plays out in the weeks ahead remains to be seen, but Thursday's U.S. move set the stage for a showdown in the United Nations that could lead to a crisis of credibility for the Security Council, its most important and powerful body.

Under the terms of the Security Council resolution that enshrined the nuclear deal, Thursday's notification starts a 30-day clock after which pre-2015 U.N. sanctions on Iran that were eased will be re-imposed unless a resolution specifically extending their suspension is passed. The U.S., however, would use its veto power to block any resolution extending the sanctions relief.

Pompeo appeared confident the U.N. sanctions would be re-imposed in 31 days and indicated that the U.S. may impose sanctions on countries that don't enforce them.

Hannah explains that President Trump and Mike Pompeo have underlining goals to wanting to "snap back" U.N. sanctions with Iran.

"Put them under so much pressure that they've at long last got to agree to do a new deal with me, he said.  Adding, "you do have plenty of people who believe that, for instance, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's real goal here is to try and actually effect regime change in Iran."

Diplomats said the likely outcome of the council president's consultations is that the majority of members inform him that the U.S. is not legally entitled to invoke "snap back," and therefore they consider that "snap back" has not been triggered and the U.S. action will have no effect.