NEW YORK, 20 September 2020, (TON): In a statement on 19 September 2020, United States Secretary of State, Michael Richard Pompeo threatened United Nations Secretary-General, "If UN Member States fail to fulfill their obligations to implement these sanctions, United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures". 

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres failed to honour US demand to punish Tehran because 13 out of the 15 Security Council members were of the opinion that Washington's move is void because Secretary of State Pompeo used a mechanism agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which the United States quit in 2018. Hence, the statement by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said "It is not for the Secretary-General to proceed as if no such uncertainty exists” He clarified that pending clarification of the status of the Iran sanctions, he would not take any action to provide that support.

In the latest development, Washington announced, “Today, the United States welcomes the return of virtually all previously terminated UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. He said the measures were back in effect from 8:00 pm Washington time (0000 GMT Sunday).

Meanwhile, reacting over the US Sunday’s statement, Iran called on the world community to unite against the reckless actions of the US. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a news conference at Tehran on Sunday, “We expect the international community and all the countries in the world to stand against these reckless actions by the regime in the White House and speak in one voice.”