He made the remarks during an open session of Parliament in Tehran on Sunday, one week after the three countries delivered their letter to the UN chief and the Security Council president, affirming the termination of Resolution 2231, which endorsed the US-abandoned 2015 nuclear deal.
“In recent days, we witnessed one of the significant and influential achievements in the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy, which resulted from years of resistance and progress by the Iranian people in the face of unjust pressures and sanctions,” he said.
Signed by the Iranian, Russian, and Chinese Foreign Ministries, the letter “is a symbol of strategic solidarity among the three great powers, which have clearly declared that the efforts of three European countries to activate the so-called snapback mechanism are fundamentally devoid of legal validity.”
In their letter, Iran, Russia, and China affirmed that October 18 marks the termination of Resolution 2231, and thus the end of the Security Council’s consideration of the Iranian nuclear issue.
The allies also denounced as “legally and procedurally flawed” the attempt by the UK, Germany, and France (collectively known as the E3) aimed at restoring all UN Security Council sanctions against Iran previously lifted under the US-abandoned 2015 nuclear deal.
On August 28, the E3 invoked the 30-day snapback process. Tehran rejected the move as illegitimate, citing the US’s unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018 and the European trio’s decision to align with unlawful anti-Iran sanctions.
On September 28, the US and the Europeans alleged that the anti-Iran UN resolutions and the associated sanctions were re-imposed, urging all UN member states to implement the restrictive measures.
Qalibaf said that based on Paragraph 8 of Resolution 2231, all of the documents’ restrictions and provisions have ended.
Therefore, he noted, Iran’s nuclear case has been removed from the agenda of the Security Council and the nation’s right to enrichment has been formally recognized.
The top legislator also referred to a separate letter sent by the representatives of China, Iran, and Russia to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, on Saturday.
Stressing the illegality of the snapback activation, the three allies in their letter stated that with the expiration of Resolution 2231, the IAEA head’s mandate to report on the verification and monitoring of Iran’s nuclear activities has come to an end.
Qalibaf said the IAEA is now obligated to adhere to the Board of Governors’ December 2015 decision, which authorized verification for up to 10 years or until the agency issued a broader conclusion on Iran’s nuclear program, whichever came first, rather than following the unilateral interpretations of Western countries.
“These two joint letters are not only a legal victory for Iran, but also a testament to the shifting balance of global power,” he added.
The Parliament speaker further hailed Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states’ declaration of support for Iran regarding the snapback issue.
China, Russia, Iran, and 120 NAM members have, from a legal standpoint, put an end to the misuse of the capacities of international organizations, he said.
They “stood against the unlawful imposition of will and coercion by the United States and a few European countries on the rest of the world—an act that will undoubtedly play a role in diminishing the impact of sanctions against Iran.”
Press TV