MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. The United States’ push to reimpose sanctions against Iran can lead to a deep crisis within the United Nations Security Council, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

"We are seriously concerned that Washington’s actions, which we consider to be reckless, can lead to a crisis, perhaps a very deep crisis, within the [UN] Security Council," she emphasized. "Unfortunately, it seems that it doesn’t at all bother our American colleagues," she added. "We urge all countries to strongly resist that," Zakharova said.

According to her, "US initiatives to renew the UN Security Council’s resolutions on sanctions against Iran, which were revoked following the 2015 signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, lack legal basis and will inevitably fail."

The Russian diplomat went on to say that the US had no right to take advantage of the UN Security Council’s authority to achieve its own goals. "The US has been blatantly violating UN Security Council Resolution 2231 since May 2018, when Washington unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA, introduced sanctions on Iran and started pressing other countries, preventing them from implementing their obligations stemming from the UN Security Council’s decisions, which is absolutely illegal," Zakharova noted. "Russia condemns US plans to continue its policy course aimed at destroying the JCPOA and undermining Resolution 2231," she concluded.

According to the US Department of State, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will visit the United Nations headquarters in New York on Thursday to notify the Security Council of Washington’s decision to begin the process of restoring sanctions on Iran. On August 14, the Security Council failed to adopt a US draft resolution on extending an arms embargo on Iran as Russia and China voted against it while most other countries abstained from voting.