China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and other countries subject to US sanctions are seeking support at the UN to push back against unilateral sanctions and the threat of force.
The effort by sixteen countries and the Palestinians argues that unilateral measures are against the UN Charter. A letter from the group seen by Reuters says multilateralism “is currently under an unprecedented attack, which, in turn, threatens global peace and security.”
The other members of the group are Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Eritrea, Laos, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines.
“The world is seeing a growing resort to unilateralism, marked by isolationist and arbitrary actions, including the imposition of unilateral coercive measures or the withdrawal from landmark agreements and multilateral institutions,” the note from the group reads.
The Trump administration slapped crippling sanctions on Iran, Venezuela, and Syria that amount to economic embargoes, and those sanctions are still in place. The only ones President Biden has hinted at lifting are on Iran, but so far, the Biden administration has not made a sincere effort to revive the nuclear deal. The Biden administration has also imposed sanctions of its own on Russia, Myanmar, and Iran.
What took them so long ?