Tasnim – President Hassan Rouhani highlighted the recent US failures in its attempts against Iran, saying the unprecedented defeats came thanks to the Iranian nation’s steadfastness and resistance.

“The Iranian nation knows that Washington has in recent weeks suffered major political defeats that were unprecedented in the history of the US and the UN,” Rouhani said in an address during a Thursday ceremony held via video link to launch four major power and water projects in Iran’s western and northwestern provinces of Kermanshah, Ardabil, East Azarbaijan.

The US plan for extension of an arms embargo on Iran received only one vote in favor at the UN Security Council (except that of the US itself) and 13 other members of the council opposed it, Rouhani noted.

Another move by Washington to trigger a snapback mechanism in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was also rejected at the UNSC lately, the president added.

“Such a defeat is unprecedented in the political history of the United States and this was the outcome of the Iranian nation’s steadfastness and resistance,” he said.

The UN Security Council on August 14 unanimously rejected a US resolution to extend the arms embargo on Iran that is due to expire in October in line with the landmark nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The resolution needed support from nine of 15 votes to pass. Eleven members abstained, including France, Germany and Britain, while the US and the Dominican Republic were the only “yes” votes.

Later, on August 22, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo filed an official complaint with UNSC President Dian Triansyah Djani, accusing Iran of violating the JCPOA – from which US President Donald Trump withdrew two years ago.

He claimed that Washington is still a participant in the JCPOA and therefore retains the right to trigger the snapback mechanism, namely activate a 30-day countdown to a return of all UN sanctions that had been imposed on Tehran before the nuclear agreement.

However, the remaining signatories to the JCPOA maintained that since the United States left the accord in May 2018, it has no right to act under its provisions.