RUSSIA’S U.N. ambassador said Tuesday that Moscow will oppose any attempts by the United States to extend the arms embargo on Iran and reimpose U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Vassily Nebenzia’s comments at a video news conference made clear that the Trump administration will have a tough time advancing any measures to impose further punishment on Iran in the U.N. Security Council, where Russia has veto power.

The United States circulated a draft U.N. resolution that would indefinitely extend the U.N. arms embargo on Iran, which expires in October, to a small number of council members in late April.

It would strike the expiration of the arms embargo from the council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between six major powers — China, Russia, Britain, France, the U.S. and Germany — and Iran, according to Trump administration officials and U.N. diplomats.

Russia has made no secret of its desire to resume conventional weapons sales to Tehran.

Nebenzia said the arms embargo is “a byproduct” of the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, and was temporary.

Nebenzia was also asked about the controversial matter of the Trump administration possibly seeking to use the “snapback” provision in the 2015 Security Council resolution endorsing the nuclear deal, which would restore all U.N. sanctions against Iran that had been lifted or eased under the terms of the agreement.

The Russian ambassador stressed that “to trigger a snapback you have to be a participant of the JCPOA, and the U.S. proudly announced on May 8, 2018 that they withdrew from the JCPOA and closed the door behind.”

“Now, they knock on the door and say, ‘Now just wait a second we forgot to do one little thing on the JCPOA, but let us back, we’ll do it and we’ll leave again,’” he said.

Nebenzia called the possibility the U.S. invoking snapback “ridiculous,” stressing that “for me it’s unequivocal. They are not members, they have no right” to use any instruments provided by the JCPOA.

He also asked the Trump administration what it would gain from triggering snapback “because snapback will definitely be the end of the JCPOA.”

The Trump administration is not planning at this point to raise the controversial issue of “snapback,” said U.S. officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Although U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal, the U.S. maintains that it retains the right to invoke a sanctions snapback that the deal envisaged in the event of “significant non-performance” by Iran.(SD-Agencies)