News ID : 251850
Publish Date : 10/19/2025 1:55:20 PM
Iran’s stand on UN Resolution 2231 signals wider defiance of West: Article

Iran’s stand on UN Resolution 2231 signals wider defiance of West: Article

The formal end of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, has marked a political confrontation that underscores the erosion of Western authority and the rise of a multipolar order. This is according to an opinion published by the Middle East Monitor.

The opinion, titled “The 2231 rift: How Iran’s defiance exposes the deep divide in the global order,” was published on Saturday, October 18, the same day the ten-year-long Resolution 2231 officially expired. It followed a move in late August by Britain, Germany, and France—collectively known as the E3 and all members of the Iran deal—to initiate the process of the snapback mechanism under the nuclear agreement officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“According to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Resolution 2231 was set to lapse on this date, effectively lifting the last vestiges of UN sanctions architecture against Iran. Yet, instead of closure, the United States and its European allies the so-called E3 have moved to unilaterally extend the restrictions, invoking the ‘snapback’ mechanism that was meant to be dormant,” read the article.

The author also cited the strong rejection of the snapback sanctions by Iran, as well as Russia, China, and more than 120 countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), saying, “What makes this moment historically significant is not merely the defiance itself, but the chorus of support Iran now finds across the Global South.”

Such a collective stance, he argued, would have been unthinkable a decade ago, when US sanctions held near-universal weight. But now, emerging economies from Latin America to South Asia “increasingly see these Western-led enforcement tools as outdated relics of a unipolar past,” he said.

According to the article, the developments surrounding the snapback, reflect a broader structural transformation as well, which is “the fragmentation of the post-1945 international order” pushed by the US and its allies.

“The United States and its allies are struggling to maintain control over the institutions they built, while new powers particularly in the East and Global South are asserting a new legitimacy rooted in pluralism, sovereignty, and non-intervention. Iran’s challenge to Resolution 2231, then, becomes emblematic of a wider revolt against Western legalism,” it read.

The author mentions a series of measures by Tehran to build its “strategic future” with the East, and believes that the NAM’s stance over Resolution 2231 in its recent ministerial meeting in Uganda reinforces that trajectory, as it was the first time in decades that a collective bloc representing the majority of the world’s population openly defied the Western interpretation of international law.

The NAM’s move underscores geopolitical implications extending far beyond Iran’s nuclear program, the article said, warning of risks to the UNSC as a body meant for consensus.

“If 120 countries can reject a UN resolution backed by the West, it signals a legitimacy crisis for the very institutions meant to uphold global order. The UN Security Council, once a stage for consensus, risks becoming a forum for division.”

The West also risks facing “long-term strategic” costs with each unilateral action it takes, which erodes the credibility of the system Western countries claim to defend, according to the opinion.

“For Iran and its partners, this erosion is not a crisis but an opportunity a chance to redefine global governance on more equitable and multipolar terms,” it read.


IRNA
Comments

first name & last name

email

comment