France backs Iranian nuclear deal in the UN

New York, January 6: France has given thumbs up to continue the nuclear deal with Iran in Security Council meeting in the United Nations. “We must commit to fully upholding the nuclear agreement with Iran,” French Ambassador to the United Nations Francois Delattre said Friday during the meeting.

“We must be wary of any attempt to exploit this crisis for personal ends,” Delattre said.

During the meeting, The U.S. call for support for Iranian antigovernment protesters drew a mixed reaction at the United Nations, with even some U.S. allies questioning whether an international response was justified.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley opened an emergency session of the UN Security Council on January 5 with an impassioned plea for “brave” Iranian demonstrators, saying they are "risking their lives" to assert their rights to criticize the government and pursue a better life.

 

"The Iranian people are rising up in over 79 locations throughout the country," Haley said. "It is a powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protest."

"The Iranian regime is finally on notice: The world will be watching what you do," she said.

But Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said the United States was "abusing the platform of the Security Council" with a "bogus" pretext to interfere in the domestic affairs of a member nation.

"We obviously regret the loss of life as the result of demonstrations that weren't so peaceful," he said. "However, let Iran deal with its own problems."

 

Iranian UN Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo also accused the United States of "bullying" and "abusing" its power to summon a meeting of the Security Council on a matter he said was "outside the scope of its mandate.”

Envoys from China, Sweden, Bolivia, and several other countries also expressed reservations about whether the Security Council was the right forum for discussing the protests.