Foreign Minister Abbas Araguchi was highlighted in a letter to the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council’s President.
The full text of Araghchi’s letter is as follows:
In the name of God, compassionate and merciful
September 27, 2025
Your Honor,
I write about the recent hopeless attempts by France, the UK and the US to maintain Iran’s peace nuclear program on the Security Council agenda by trying to restore the Security Council resolution that ended under resolution 2231 (2015). In this regard, I would like to repeat the principled position of Iran as follows:
As explained in my previous communication, notices submitted by the three European countries (so-called E3) are invalid and invalid, as they are legally and procedurally flawed. E3 acted while refusing to maintain its duties, and by running out the JCPOA’s Dispute Resolution Mechanism (DRM) and demanding arrangements beyond its scope, actively undermining Resolution 2231 (2015) and calling for a justified military attack on Iran’s IAEA safeguard facilities. The so-called snapback mechanism calls are a clear abuse of the process.
Attempts to revive a termination solution are not only legally unfounded, but also politically and morally unfair. Issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program have already been resolved by the JCPOA and resolution 2231. Furthermore, the Israeli regime and the US’ illegal military action fundamentally changed the situation regarding Iran’s nuclear facilities, abolishing the solutions that were shunned from current reality and stripped away.
Surgical paragraph 11 of resolution 2231 provides that the Security Council “must take into account the views of the states involved.” It is unfortunate that despite the clear stances of other JCPOA participants (Iran, China and the Russian Federation), the council president has decided to vote for the vote. As highlighted in a letter from the Joint Ministers of China, Iran and Russia dated August 28, 2025, the Security Council cannot act on E3’s flawed communications. Actions that ignore or violate Resolution 2231 cannot create a legal obligation for the United Nations Member States.
Furthermore, in a vote on the resolution submitted by the Republic of Korea, two permanent members (China and Russia) added by Algeria and Pakistan, firmly stated that sanctions have become obsolete and must be lifted. The abstaining of Council Presidents, South Korea and Guyana further highlighted the lack of legitimacy of the draft. That failure confirmed that there were no states to revive previous restrictions. International Law and the United Nations
The Charter makes it clear that no obligation arises from invalid procedures or lack of consensus within the council.
The results of the vote held in the Russian and Chinese resolution on September 26, 2025 were technically a resolution to extend resolution 2231, demonstrating once again that the Security Council is split and there is no consensus on reimposing sanctions against Iran. This reflects the situation in October 2020 when the US illegally sought to cause snapbacks. At the time, in a letter on August 25, 2020 (S/2020/837), the Council President explicitly stated that the Council is not in a position to take action. Then, in a letter on September 21, 2020, 13 members confirmed that the US letter did not constitute a notification based on paragraph 11 of resolution 2231 and that the automated process was not triggered. In October 2020, citing parliamentary division and lack of consensus, the Secretary-General and the Secretariat similarly refrained from implementing or reviving the sanctions mechanism.
Taking into consideration the above, as I have made abundantly clear in a statement made at the Security Council meeting on September 26, 2025,
E3 lost its position to evoke “significant non-performance” because it violated its obligations under both the JCPOA and resolution 2231. Their invocation of so-called snapback mechanisms is simply a harsh abuse of the process.
The resolution submitted by the Council President on September 19 for the vote did not meet the requirements of Resolution 2231 and cannot recover any already ended sanctions.
Any attempt to revive sanctions by E3 and the US is void and void.
Resolution 2231 will expire as agreed. All nuclear-related restrictions under resolution 2231 will end forever on October 18, 2025. Iran is not aware of any attempts to expand, revive or enforce them thereafter.
Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran has firmly rejected the allegations of reinstatement of the cancellation resolution under resolution 2231 (2015). Neither Iran nor UN member states have an obligation to comply with such illegal measures.
Your Honor,
We rely on your sense of responsibility to act outside the law and to ensure that certain Western countries, driven by narrow political agendas, are not permitted to misuse the Secretariat for political enforcement against Iran. Such misuse would undermine the reliability and neutrality of the United Nations and erode the powers of the Security Council.
Therefore, we will call your Excellency to prevent attempts to revive sanction mechanisms, including the sanctions committee and the committee of experts. UN resources must not be allocated or supported by such illegal measures.
Iran’s Islamic Republic has consistently demonstrated diplomatic preparations aimed at a fair, balanced and sustainable solution. Unfortunately, E3 and the US choose to confrontation and mistakenly assume that Iran will succumb to forcedness. History proves that this assumption is false – and it does again.
Iran’s Islamic Republic will continue to firmly defend its sovereignty and interests. Attempts to harm Iran are met with appropriate responses, and full responsibility rests on those who choose conflict and pressure against cooperation.
I would like to thank you for your distribution of this letter as a general assembly and security board document.
I hope you will accept my best considerations, Your Excellency.
Seid Abbas Aragut
Minister of Foreign Affairs
He is Antonio Guterres
Secretary General
United Nations, New York
CC:
He is Sangin Kim
Security Council President
MNA/