Washington: We Will Not Allow Tehran to Hijack Syria’s Future

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.
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Washington: We Will Not Allow Tehran to Hijack Syria’s Future

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday that Washington would not allow Iran to hijack the future of the Syrian people, while Moscow accused the west of preparing a fake footage of a chemical attack in the north of Syria to implicate the regime.

During a UN Security Council session Tuesday, Haley said: “No matter what type of weapons or methods are used, the United States strongly opposes any escalation of violence in Idlib.”

Haley reiterated her warning that Washington "would not allow Iran ... to hijack the future of the Syrian people.”

She also warned that the US would not allow the Syrian regime or any party to use chemical weapons.

One year ago, Russia, Iran and Turkey, known as the Astana guarantors, oversaw the creation of four de-escalation zones in Syria, supposed to be safer for civilians.

Haley said her country would respond to the use of chemical weapons. “We stand by this warning.”

For its part, Moscow fiercely criticized Washington’s possible use of “force” as a response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Russia said a fake footage of "chemical attacks” in Jisr al-Shugur has been designed to facilitate the implication of Syrian regime forces in the use of chemical weapons.

"According to the information received from inhabitants of Idlib province, militants are now filming a staged provocation in the city of Jisr al-Shugur, where chemical weapons are depicted as being used by the Syrian army against civilians,” the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation reported.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that a Syrian government offensive on Idlib could scatter thousands of foreign terrorists abroad, posing a security threat to the West.

“There are in all likelihood dozens of French fighters from both Al-Qaeda and ISIS” in Idlib, Le Drian said.

He warned there were “also many terrorists from other nations who could scatter” in the event of a joint Syrian-Russian offensive, posing “risks for our security.”

Le Drian estimated at “between 10,000 and 15,000” the number of terrorists left in Idlib.

At the battlefield, Turkey continued to send military reinforcements to its border with Syria and inside the province of Idlib.

The Turkish Army also asked factions from the Free Syrian Army to join its Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Olive Branch.



Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
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Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iran will react to any reimposition of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, without elaborating on what actions Tehran might take.

A French diplomatic source told Reuters last week that European powers would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran under the so-called "snapback mechanism" if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests.

The "snapback mechanism" is a process that would reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran under a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures in return for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.

"The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference, without giving further details.

The 2015 deal with Britain, Germany, France, the US, Russia and China - known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - states that if the parties cannot resolve accusations of "significant non-performance" by Iran, the "snapback mechanism" process can be triggered by the 15-member UN Security Council.

"The European parties, who are constantly trying to use this possibility as a tool, have themselves committed gross and fundamental violations of their obligations under the JCPOA," Baghaei said.

"They have failed to fulfill the duties they had undertaken under the JCPOA, so they have no legal or moral standing to resort to this mechanism."

Western countries accuse Iran of plotting to build a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies.

The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 under the first administration of President Donald Trump, who called the agreement "weak".

Trump, whose second presidency began in January, has urged Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations on a new deal after a ceasefire was reached last month that ended a 12-day air war between Iran and Israel that destabilized the Middle East.

When asked if Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would meet with Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, Baghaei said no date or location had been set for resuming the US-Iran nuclear talks.