This mechanism will once again impose all international sanctions against Iran that were lifted by the 2015 nuclear deal.

The United States will soon activate the controversial mechanism aimed at forcing the UN Security Council to reinstate all international sanctions against Iran, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today.

On Saturday, Republican President Donald Trump announced that the process of “restoring the status quo” may begin as early as this week.

When asked when the mechanism will be activated, Pompeo did not answer.

“The president has made it clear that we will do it soon and we will do it,” he told in a news conference in Washington.

This mechanism will re-impose all the international sanctions against Iran that were lifted by the 2015 nuclear deal. However, Trump in 2018 withdrew the US from this agreement, which he considers insufficient, and has already unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on Tehran again.

The move the US intends to make is based on an interpretation of the agreement that is being challenged by other countries: Mike Pompeo intends to claim that his country is a “Contracting Member” to the nuclear deal, from which the US has withdrawn.

On the basis of the 2015 Security Council Resolution ratifying the International Agreement, the Contracting Parties have the possibility to unilaterally denounce the non-compliance by the of another Contracting Party. With this unprecedented procedure, the sanctions on Iran will be imposed again within 30 days. Other countries, such as Russia and China, cannot invoke their veto in this case.

However, almost all other members of the Security Council, including Washington’s European partners, dispute this interpretation and are therefore unlikely to accept the resumption of sanctions.

“We hope that all countries will see that it is in their interest to respect the Security Council resolution,” Pompeo said. “We expect that all the countries of the world will fulfill their obligations, including the permanent members” of the Security Council, namely China, Russia, France and Britain.

In other statements, Pompeo condemned the coup in Mali and demanded the release of all government officials arrested in the country.