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Russia accuses US of misusing UN to meddle in Iranian affairs Hard-won UN debate sees US at odds with partners over Iran
(about 4 hours later)
American efforts to win UN security council backing for a tough line against the Iranian leadership in the wake of this week’s protests came unstuck after Russia accused Washington of seeking to undermine Iranian sovereignty by convening an emergency UN session on Friday. The US successfully fought off a Russian-led attempt on Friday to block a UN security council discussion over the past week’s Iranian protests. But it immediately found itself at odds with its European partners, who used the subsequent debate to reject American efforts to make the protests an excuse for ditching the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
The Russians demanded a closed session of the security council – before the open session wanted by the US – at which Russia will attack the American misuse of the UN to interfere in the sovereignty of Iran. Russia had tried to stop the UN discussion on the grounds that it would represent an inappropriate interference in Iran’s internal affairs. But the US countered by finding the required votes on the 15-strong security council to press for a debate.
With protests inside Iran reportedly receding, the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said he saw no role for the UN on the issue. He said such a meeting would be “harmful and destructive”. A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said that no such meetings were called when US police cracked down on the Occupy Wall Street movement or the Ferguson protests. Russia claimed the US intended to use what it regarded as largely economic protests directed against austerity inside Iran as a means both to challenge the Iranian government’s authority and to undermine the Iranian nuclear deal signed in 2015.
Last month, the US was isolated at the UN when it was left with virtually no support for its call for Jerusalem to be recognised as the capital of Israel. In an often bitter discussion laying bare the deep ideological rifts over the future of the Middle East, Iran’s UN ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo added he had “hard evidence” that recent protests in Iran were “very clearly directed from abroad”.
Ryabkov also sided with the Iranian regime by saying allegations that the protests had been fuelled by foreign powers “were not groundless”. He said the security council meeting represented an attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of Iran. Khoshroo joined Russia in saying the US had abused its power as a permanent member of the security council by calling for a meeting to discuss the protests.
The Iranian regime has itself accused CIA officials, Saudi Arabia and Israel of stoking what they describe as riots. “It is unfortunate that despite the resistance on the part of some of its members, this council has allowed itself to be abused by the current US administration in holding a meeting on an issue that falls outside the scope of its mandate,” Khoshroo said. He accused the US of “preposterous bullying” and searching for every possible straw to keep itself afloat.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, has drawn comparisons between the Iranian unrest and the Syrian uprising in 2011 by saying: “The world has witnessed the horrors that have taken place in Syria, that began with a murderous regime denying its people’s right to peacefully protest.” Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif later tweeted that the episode was another US foreign policy blunder, saying the majority of the security council had “emphasised the need to fully implement the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015 and to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of others”.
The US is planning to impose further sanctions on individual regime figures if it can show they are leading the crackdown on protesters. Washington has already imposed sanctions against five Iranian firms alleged to have been working on what the US said was an illegal ballistic missile programme. During the debate the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, warned the Iranian authorities that the world was watching as Tehran responded to anti-government protests. “The Iranian regime is now on notice: the world will be watching what you do,” she said.
Twenty-one people have died and hundreds have been arrested since 28 December as protests over economic woes turned against the Iranian leaders, with attacks on government buildings and police stations. “The Iranian people are rising up in over 79 locations throughout the country. It is a powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protest.”
Iranian state TV reported on Friday that tens of thousands of government supporters were on the streets, backing the clerical establishment and claiming the US had generated the largest anti-government protests in nearly a decade. Tehran’s Friday prayer leaders called on authorities to deal “firmly” with those responsible for igniting the protests. Social media claimed the protests had continued on Thursday. She said Iranians were telling their government to “stop the support for terrorism, stop giving billions of our money to killers and dictators, stop taking our wealth and spending it on foreign fighters and proxy wars”.
The government has reversed some of its austerity plans. But the UN’s French representative distanced his country from the tone of the US strategy towards the protests. In an implicit rebuke to the US for calling the debate, François Delattre said: “However worrying the events of the last few days in Iran may be, they do not constitute per se a threat to international peace and security. We must be wary of any attempts to exploit this crisis for personal ends, which would have the diametrically opposed outcome to that which is wished.” The nuclear deal was a cornerstone for stability in the Middle East, he added.
European countries are fearful that Trump’s bellicose rhetoric simply plays into the hands of Iranian hardliners by making it easier to portray the demonstrators as the dupes or agents of Washington. European leaders also fear Trump will use the Tehran crackdown to argue that Congress should not renew the Iranian nuclear deal, something they wish to protect. The UK’s representative Matthew Rycoft said Britain remained fully committed to the JCPOA [the nuclear deal], describing it as one of the great diplomatic successes of recent memory. He added: “We encourage all member states to uphold all their commitments. A prosperous, stable Iran is beneficial to all.”
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, was unequivocal in his support for the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015. He said: “We cannot be the guarantors of the international order and multilateralism, we cannot be founders and members of the United Nations security council, and forget that signed agreements must be respected.” He urged Iran to allow peaceful protests and said too often the country’s legitimate security interests were pursued in ways that endangered others and undermined the Iranian economy.