MOSCOW, Sept 20 (KUNA) -- The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation criticized as provoctative and counterproductive the vote by the UN Security Council yesterday to reject a proposal to extend sanctions relief for Iran under the 2015 nuclear deal.
The move is provocative and detrimental to the ongoing diplomactic efforts to lift the sanctions and restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the ministry said in a press release on Saturday.
Russia, China, Algeria and Pakistan voted for continuing the sanctions relief, but the European countries and the United States applied unprecedented pressures on the non-permanent members of the UNSC and forced them to adopt counterproductive stances, the statement noted.
The stances of the European countries and the United States, alongside South Korea - the current UNSC presidency, regarding the so-called "snapback process" were characterized by illegality, provocation and can only lead to more tensions over the Iranian nuclear file, it pointed out.
The UNSC draft resolution failed to secure the nine required for adoption, thus re-imposing automatically the previous UN sanctions on Iran.
Angered by the voted, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was illegal and unjustifiable.
The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its right to respond to the measure, it said in a statement, noting that the moves of the E3 (the United Kingdom, France and Germany) risk undermining the ongoing diplomatic efforts.
Denmark, France, Greece, Panama, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Somalia, the United Kingdom, and the United States voted against. Guyana and the Republic of Korea abstained.
UNSC Resolution 2231, which endorsed the JCPOA in July 2015, set out the process by which UN sanctions would be lifted, while establishing a mechanism to re-impose them in case of "significant non-performance" by any of its participants - China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, the US, the European Union and Iran. (end) dan.gb