Ambassador Kelly Craft
Permanent Representative
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
Washington, D.C.
September 21, 2020
AS DELIVERED
The actions we’re announcing today and our work in the Security Council over the last three months have been driven by a single purpose – the pursuit of peace.
What makes America unique is that we stand up for what is right. As we have in the past, we will stand alone to protect peace and security at all times.
We don’t need a cheering section to validate our moral compass. We do not find comfort based solely on numbers – particularly when the majority has found themselves in an uncomfortable position of underwriting terrorism, chaos, and conflict. We refuse to be members of that club.
The United States is a force for good in the world. We led the creation of the multilateral system we know today and we remain its largest funder. But as I have said repeatedly: when it fails, we will not.
False hopes on the part of the Security Council members that the JCPOA might contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions do not excuse members from their obligations to re-impose sanctions pursuant to the process outlined in Resolution 2231.
It is now our expectation that all UN Member States will fulfill their legal obligation and re-impose sanctions on Iran.
As we have demonstrated today, the United States will do everything necessary to ensure that the Islamic Republic of Iran – the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism – cannot inflict even greater harm on the world with more deadly weapons.
We are doing this for peace. We are doing this for the safety of the American people, the people of the Middle East, the people of Europe, and the people of the world.
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