Security Council members voting on the Iran resolution at the UN headquarters in New York yesterday.

The passing of the resolution sets in motion a gradual process that can terminate seven UN resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran since 2006

AFP
New York


The UN Security Council yesterday unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the historic deal on Iran’s nuclear programme and cleared a path to lift sanctions crippling its economy.
It marks formal UN approval for the hard-won, groundbreaking agreement reached between Tehran and the permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany, after 18 straight days of talks that capped almost two years of momentous negotiations.
The passing of the resolution sets in motion a gradual process - conditional on Iran abiding by the deal - that can terminate seven UN resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran since 2006.
The agreement with Tehran was reached last Tuesday in Vienna by the UN council’s five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US, plus Germany.
US President Barack Obama welcomed the resolution and said he expected a hostile Congress to “pay attention” to the broad consensus behind the deal.
Obama said he hoped resolution would “send a clear message that the overwhelming number of countries” recognise that diplomacy is “by far our strongest approach to ensuring that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon”.
In the Security Council, ambassadors said the years of hard work on Iran should become a blueprint for how the world deals with other crises such as those in Syria and Yemen.
“When our nations truly unite to confront global crises, our influence grows exponentially,” said US envoy Samantha Power. “It should motivate us to do far more.”
The nuclear deal has been touted as an opening for greater contact between Iran and the leading nations over common interests, particularly on tackling the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Iranian ambassador Golamali Khoshroo told the Security Council that Tehran was ready “to engage in good faith” with its neighbours in the region.
But in Tehran, the foreign ministry said  the country’s  ballistic missile programme was not connected to the  Security Council resolution adopted yesterday.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is committed to implementing its commitments... so long as” world powers keep their side of the agreement to lift sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran will not develop a nuclear programme, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said Iran would in any case never seek a nuclear bomb, “in line with the historic fatwa (religious decree) of supreme guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has banned the use of weapons of mass destruction”.
On its ballistic weapons, the ministry said: “Iran’s military capacities, especially ballistic missiles, are strictly defensive and, as they have not been conceived to carry nuclear weapons, they are outside the scope and competence of the Security Council resolution”. Page 3, Business Page 1

GCC protests at ‘contradictory’ signals
The six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) yesterday protested at “contradictory” signals coming from Iran since its nuclear accord struck with world powers last week. GCC chief Abdellatif Zayani said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was offering to turn a “new page” with its Arab neighbours while its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had pledged to keep up support for Shia opposition groups.  Such messages sent out “contradictory” signals, he said in a statement, adding that Khamenei’s comments made in a speech on Saturday amounted to “unacceptable interference” in the affairs of Arab states.  The speech was contrary to “the principles of good neighbourliness”, charged Zayani, vowing that the Gulf Arab states would “continue to defend their interests”.