MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused the UN Secretariat of exceeding its authority in the case of the sanctions resolution concerning Iran.
"The UN Secretariat hastened to post some kind of statement on its website regarding the reinstated resolution regarding Iran. This is a classic example of how the UN Secretariat acts beyond its mandate, beyond its authority, contrary to international law, simply because it is West-biased," she told a news briefing.
Zakharova emphasized that the UN Security Council has not passed any decisions granting the UN Secretariat the authority "to issue opinions on such sensitive matters, which are within the exclusive competence of the UN Security Council."
Zakharova noted that the UN Secretariat's actions took place against the backdrop of a comprehensive brainwashing campaign: "Leading Western media outlets have once again begun aggressively promoting in the public sphere the idea of reinstating UN restrictions on Iran, which were lifted under the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as part of the implementation of Resolution 2231, which approved it."
"From the perspective of Western propaganda, the international audience is to have a false impression that the UN Security Council sanctions resolution in effect until 2015 is ostensibly back in force," Zakharova explained. "This, again, from the perspective of Western propaganda, supposedly resulted from the UN Security Council's consideration of a complaint by European countries regarding Tehran's significant failure to fulfill its obligations under the JCPOA, as stated, and the draft resolution introduced by the South Korean Security Council presidency to extend the sanctions-lifting regime. The rejection of this resolution is diligently presented by Britain, Germany, France, and the United States, which backs the sanctions, as grounds for reviving long-lifted UN restrictions," she explained.
