I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y AUGUST 19, 2020 IRAN IN FOCUS 3 Iranians view 1953 coup as How Iran will respond to snapback sanctions 1 There are two schools of thought concerning the U.S. symbol of U.S. wickedness: Vaezi position on the snapback; some believe that the U.S. has no legal authority to initiate the snapback process because it is POLITICAL TEHRAN — Presidential court. He was sentenced to death, but on no longer a JCPOA participant state from a legal point of view, deskchief of staff Mahmoud the shah’s personal orders, his sentence while others believe that the U.S. as a hegemonic state with veto Vaezi says the 1953 coup is regarded by the was commuted to three years in solitary power could succeed in triggering the snapback by exploiting Iranian people as the symbol of the United confinement in a military prison, followed its leverages at the UN Security Council, according to Hassan States’ wickedness and its irresponsible by house arrest until his death. Beheshtipour, a West Asia expert. interference in Iran’s affairs. Mosaddegh had also played a key role in “The U.S. can’t snap back the UN sanctions on Iran by using In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Vaezi the country’s 1951 movement that result- the legal authority stipulated in the JCPOA and the UN Security wrote that sixty-seven years ago on this ed in the nationalization of oil industry, Council resolution 2231 because it has withdrawn from the day, the Americans overthrew the elected which had been mainly controlled by the JCPOA according to a directive issued by President Trump. government of the Iranian people by par- British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Furthermore, the snapback mechanism is a part of the JCPOA, ticipating in a disgraceful coup. (AIOC), also known as BP. and resolution 2231 endorsed the nuclear deal. So the U.S. has The coup was neither the first nor the Experts say the 1953 coup was aimed no right to initiate the snapback mechanism,” Beheshtipour last American intervention in the internal at securing the West’s oil interests in the told the Tehran Times affairs of other countries, he said, adding, country by restoring power to the Shah. He added even if the U.S. triggers the snapback sanctions, “Twenty-five years after that coup, Irani- For years, the United States and Brit- other countries on the Security Council won’t implement the ans organized a revolution that ended any ain were blamed for the coup but both sanctions since the implementation of these sanctions is con- foreign interference in the affairs of the governments tried their best to sweep the tingent on cooperation with the other countries. country and the fate of its people.” story under the rug. He also said that the European signatories to the JCPOA Vaezi also noted that the Iranian nation In 1989, the U.S. State Department first can save the deal by not implementing the UN sanctions if are still united in rejecting foreign inter- released coup-related documents, but edited they are reinstated. vention and safeguarding the country’s out any reference to American or British in- Iran has previously said that any extension of the UN arms independence. volvement. Since then, the omission of CIA’s embargo would lead to the death of the JCPOA. Deputy Foreign “This is a reality that the greedy will role has been widely criticized by historians. Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand have to sooner or later accept it,” he added. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. had fled to Baghdad. Finally, in 2013, the CIA publicly ad- warned late July that the U.S. efforts to extend the UN arms The foreign-backed coup d’état, known Known as Operation Ajax, the coup was With the success of the second coup, mitted for the first time that it was be- embargo on Iran would spell the end of the 2015 nuclear deal. in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup, saw the carried out after an earlier coup attempt Zahedi was installed as prime minister, and hind the coup. It also released documents Similarly, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security overthrow of the democratically elected failed to overthrow Mosaddegh and install the shah returned to Iran and continued that showed how the British government Council Ali Shamkhani has warned about the death of the JCPOA. government of Prime Minister Mohammad General Fazlollah Zahedi, the shah’s re- to rule more firmly as monarch. tried to block the release of information In a tweet on May 3, Shamkhani wrote: “JCPOA will die Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953 in favor liable ally, as prime minister. As a result, Mosaddegh was then arrested, tried and about its own involvement in overthrow forever by circumventing 2231 Resolution & continuing Iran’s of strengthening the monarchical rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, convicted of treason by the shah’s military of Mosaddegh. illegal weapons sanctions. Sanctions’ virus is the U.S. tool for survival of its declining hegemony. What will EU do: Save dig- nity & support multilateralism or Accept humiliation & help unilateralism?” Trump daydreaming of bringing Iran to negotiating table, says Zarif In a message to the leaders of the JCPOA parties in May 2019, President Hassan Rouhani warned against extending POLITICAL TEHRAN — U.S. President Donald “The United States’ resolution received two in favor the UN arms embargo, saying that the extension of the arms deskTrump is lost in a daydream when he votes, meaning [the U.S.] was able to convince or coerce embargo would have “dire consequences.” says Iran will soon come to the negotiating table, says or encourage or bribe only one country to vote in favor It’s not clear yet what Rouhani meant in his warning. But Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. of its resolution,” he asserted. Beheshtipour said that the Iranian president has warned that “After exiting Barjam (nuclear deal), Trump told some According to Zarif, the fact that Russia and China Iran will stop implementing the Additional Protocol to the NPT. Western countries to give him a few months’ time and voted against the resolution demonstrated the two “On the first anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from the ‘I bring Iran to the negotiating table’,” Zarif said in a countries’ insistence on their stance. JCPOA, President Rouhani sent a message to all JCPOA parties televised interview on Monday night, according to Mehr. In a statement on Friday, Russian President Vladimir in May 2019, declaring that under the supervision of the IAEA, “He has not yet backed down and says ‘if I’m (re) Putin proposed an online summit with the U.S., Brit- Iran will gradually reduce its commitments under the JCPOA. elected, I will bring the Iranians to the negotiating ta- ain, France, China, Germany and Iran in a bid to avoid Iran also warned that it will not be committed to the voluntary ble’,” Zarif remarked, adding that the U.S. president “confrontation and escalation” at the UN. implementation of the Additional Protocol if the snapback must be daydreaming to make such remarks. “The issue is urgent,” the Russian president said, mechanism triggered,” Beheshitipour noted, underlining that On Friday, the United States’ efforts to extend an adding that the alternative was “only further escalation the Rouhani message was confidential and its details have never arms embargo on Iran ended in a humiliating defeat of tensions, increasing risk of conflict - such a scenario been disclosed. at the UN Security Council. Only the Dominican Re- must be avoided.” The expert went further to say, “The message was very im- public backed the U.S.-anti-Iran resolution. The vote The call was welcomed by some countries, including portant and strategic because Iran outlined its response to the highlighted the division between Washington and its China and France, but Trump dismissed it. potential triggering of the snapback. In this message Iran told European allies since Trump withdrew from the nuclear ington Also, on Monday, Beijing called on Washington to the JCPOA parties what it will do if they trigger the snapback.” accord in May 2018. In his Monday night interview, the foreign minister abandon its “unilateralism”, put an end to its sanctions Beheshtipour said he didn’t see the message but it was clear Russia and China voted against the resolution. The said the U.S. is not a dominant power in the world on Iran, and adopt a correct path towards respecting for him that Rouhani warned of stopping the implementation other members, including France and Britain as per- anymore, hinting at its failure with the UNSC vote on the multilaterally-achieved nuclear agreement. of the Additional Protocol. manent members of the council, and Germany refused Friday as a sign of the decline of Washington’s power. The U.S. needed to abandon unilateralism as well as According to Beheshtipour, Iran is cooperating with the to vote in favor of the U.S. resolution. The U.S. “killed” the JCPOA, “buried” it and held a unilateral sanctions, adopt a reasonable and realistic International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the highest level, Following Washington’s failure at the UN Security “funeral” for it, but even the corpse of the nuclear pact attitude, and return to the “right track” of observing despite all diplomatic tensions between Iran and the U.S. The Council, Trump announced that he intends to trigger defeated the United States, he stated. the nuclear agreement and the United Nations Security IAEA has the most robust verification system in Iran, pointed the snapback mechanism, which would reimpose inter- Pointing to the UN Security Council’s rejection of Council decisions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman out the expert.