US circulates draft UN resolution on Iran sanctions

NEW YORK 

The U.S. on Wednesday circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution endorsing a deal reached on Iran’s nuclear program.

The resolution is expected to terminate all previous resolutions that slapped targeted sanctions against Iran, but ensures that the measures could immediately return if the country fails to comply with its commitments.

Opposition to the resolution, which is expected to be put to a vote next week, is considered unlikely, as the five council members that yield veto power were members of the six world powers that signed the deal.

Despite the removal of sanctions, the draft retains a UN arms embargo for five years and a ban on ballistic missiles for eight years.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany — signed a final agreement in Vienna on Tuesday, bringing to a close nearly two years of contentious talks that focused on providing Tehran with dire needed sanctions relief in return for unprecedented curbs and inspections on its nuclear program.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said Tuesday that the U.S. would submit the draft on behalf of the P5+1 and the EU.

"This resolution would endorse this deal and take other important steps, including replacing the existing Security Council sanctions architecture with the new, binding restrictions agreed on in Vienna", she said.

Under the agreement, major economic sanctions could be lifted later this year if Tehran complies with the principal requirements in the agreements.