Dual Diplomacy of Zarif and Jalili
In six years of nuclear negotiations, Saeed Jalili’s dual diplomacy only resulted in the issuance of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran and our country being placed in Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
These resolutions imposed the harshest sanctions against Iran, from banning oil sales and foreign trade to insurance, banking, investment, and transportation, to the extent that it allowed all countries to seize any ship carrying goods to or from Iran in any sea.
However, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who took over the negotiations, convinced the 51 countries and Security Council members to cancel all these resolutions with about 2 years of negotiations, thus Iran returned to the world. This was a major event in the history of international law for reasons that we will discuss.
So far, the UN Security Council has issued sanctions resolutions against several countries. The UN Charter has a chapter that refers to what threatens world peace.
This chapter, which is the seventh chapter of the Charter, allows the Security Council to impose sanctions against any country that jeopardizes peace and security, and even ultimately attack that country militarily by forming a multinational force.
In all cases where the Security Council has referred a country’s case to Chapter VII and imposed sanctions against it, one of these three events has occurred.
1. Full implementation of Security Council resolutions: The sanctioned country has fully complied with Security Council resolutions and has been exempted from sanctions after full implementation of the resolution, such as Libya in the case of the Pan Am plane crash in Lockerbie.
2. Regime change: The sanctioned country has undergone a regime change due to internal events, leading to the realization of Security Council demands, such as in the case of South Africa where the apartheid regime was overthrown through a popular uprising led by Mandela, resulting in the eradication of the regime’s racist actions that led to the imposition of sanctions.
3. Military attack: The third scenario is a foreign military attack on the sanctioned country that did not comply with the resolutions. Military attacks on Iraq and Yugoslavia after their non-compliance with Security Council resolutions are prominent examples where the objectives of the resolutions were achieved through military action.
In a summary, it can be said that all the resolutions of the Security Council have reached one of three fates: either countries have adhered to them, or regimes have changed internally, or they have faced foreign military attacks, and ultimately the resolutions have been implemented.
As a result, in negotiations, Zarif and his colleagues, for the first time in the history of international law, added a fourth option to these three scenarios, which is the cancellation of Security Council resolutions through dialogue and without acting upon them.
This significant event occurred while the six recent Security Council resolutions against Iran, which were passed before the current negotiations against Iran, imposed the heaviest sanctions against Iran and issued directives to Iran, including a complete halt to enrichment in the country.
Meanwhile, despite reaching an agreement, Iran continues its nuclear activities, and the Security Council, contrary to its previous resolutions and without acting upon them, issued a new resolution and canceled its previous resolutions.
This was an unparalleled victory for Iran and a major event in the history of international law.
Below are a few examples of the most important files of the seventh season of the Security Council. Files that had made the permanent members of the Security Council hopeful that Iran would fall into one of the three aforementioned fates, but Iranian statesmen managed to achieve the fourth outcome.
South Africa
The apartheid regime of South Africa received three resolutions from the Security Council as a threat to the people of this country and its neighbors.
The first resolution was issued on November 4, 1977, numbered 418, and the second resolution was issued on June 13, 1980, numbered 473. Another resolution was issued on December 13, 1984, numbered 558 against this country.
These resolutions demanded the apartheid regime to stop its racist policies and violence, and urged countries worldwide to impose extensive sanctions against South Africa.
However, the government at the time did not comply with these resolutions and remained under sanctions until the popular struggles led by Nelson Mandela resulted in the downfall of the apartheid regime and free elections were held in the country.
It was after that the Security Council held a session on May 25, 1994, and put an end to the 17-year sanctions on South Africa by issuing resolution 919.
Iraq
Four days after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1991, and the occupation of the country, the Security Council imposed sanctions on Iraq under Chapter VII of Kuwait’s Charter. Baghdad did not comply with the issuance of this resolution, leading to further resolutions against the country and eventually leading to war.
After the war and Kuwait’s liberation from Iraq’s occupation, sanctions remained in place until the United States once again attacked Iraq and overthrew its government. Following these events and the establishment of a democratically elected government in Iraq, the Security Council lifted the sanctions with the issuance of Resolution 1483 in 2013.
Yugoslavia
The civil war in Yugoslavia drew the attention of the Security Council to the region, leading to several resolutions against the country, including Resolution 713 on September 25, 1991, and Resolution 724 on December 15, 1991.
These resolutions were lifted only when the international coalition forces bombed Yugoslavia and the aggressor forces retreated, resulting in the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
Haiti
In 1991, a coup took place in Haiti, overthrowing the elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The UN Security Council issued Resolution 841 on June 16, 1993, and Resolution 917 on May 6, 1994, imposing sanctions against the country.
Due to the coup government’s disregard for these resolutions, the Security Council established a multinational military force on July 31, 1994, through Resolution 940 to restore the legitimate government. Eventually, with the departure of the coup leaders and the return of Aristide to power, the Security Council lifted the sanctions by issuing Resolution 948.
Libya
On December 21, 1988, an American aircraft owned by Pan American exploded over Lockerbie, killing 259 people. Three years later, the US identified three Libyan citizens as suspects and requested their extradition from Libya.
Gaddafi did not comply, leading the Security Council to act. Under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Council adopted Resolution 748, imposing penalties against the country. In the subsequent Resolution 883 on November 11, 1993, the scope of sanctions was expanded.
Libya tried hard to resist sanctions but eventually gave in, handed over the suspects, paid compensation to passengers and airlines, leading to the lifting of sanctions under Resolution 1506 on September 12, 2003.
Iran’s inclusion in Chapter VII of the UN Charter and the crippling sanctions resolutions that broke Iran’s back and darkened the lives of Iranians are a clear and undeniable record. If Zarif had no other work or record than canceling all these resolutions himself in the Security Council, it would be a great honor and service, especially since he even prevented Trump from reviving these resolutions and only settled for US unilateral sanctions.
Even within a unified political system, the question of who is in charge is equally important and significant.
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