Iran urges UN Security Council to choose diplomacy over confrontation in nuclear dispute

Iran has called on the United Nations to “intervene and choose diplomacy” as the world body’s security organ is scheduled to convene on Friday to vote on lifting Tehran’s nuclear sanctions permanently under Resolution 2231 or otherwise re-impose them under the snapback mechanism.

"It is now high time for the UN Security Council to intervene and choose diplomacy over confrontation. The stakes could not be higher,” the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on his X account.

He said that during a joint telephone talk on Wednesday with EU foreign policy chief and foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK (E3), he submitted a “practical and sensible proposal aimed at averting an unnecessary and avoidable crisis in the coming days”.

The European powers are signatories of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) and have referred their dispute with Tehran to the Security Council demanding return of pre-2015 sanctions if they fail to reach an agreement with Iran by end of September.  

"Instead of being met with engagement on the substance of this plan, Iran is now faced with a litany of excuses and outright deflection, including the farcical claim that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not represent the entire political establishment,” he added.

Araghchi said he was glad that French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the proposal he presented was reasonable, but stressed the world should also know that he has the full support of the entirety of Iran, including the country's Supreme National Security Council.

Asked in an interview with Israel's Channel 12 whether the return of UN nuclear sanctions was a done deal, Macron said, “I think so because the latest news from the Iranians is not serious."

Iran’s top diplomat replied criticizing the European sides of the JCPOA for their lack of independence and authority, and said, “The reality may be that the E3/EU diplomatic apparatus is, in fact, the one that is apparently out of commission," 

Araghchi stressed that Iran has played its role by introducing a “creative, fair, and balanced proposal” which addresses genuine concerns and is mutually beneficial, and by signing an agreement with the IAEA last week in Egypt which opens “a new chapter of cooperation” despite the unlawful bombing of its safeguarded nuclear facilities.

On the eve of the UN Security Council meeting on Iran in New York, Tehran withdrew its draft resolution at the ongoing annual IAEA General Conference in Vienna which called for banning the threats and attacks on the civilian nuclear sites under UN nuclear agency’s safeguards.

Iran’s envoy at International Organizations in Vienna Reza Najafi said it was because of the U.S. pressure on the IAEA member states and threats of cutting off its financial support to the agency if the draft resolution was passed.

The draft resolution was proposed after Iran’s major civilian nuclear facilities were bombed in the airstrikes by Israel and U.S. during the 12-day war in June.

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