The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing a comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers finalized last week.
The deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was finalized on July 14 between Iran and P5+1 group (the five UNSC permanent members: U.S., U.K., France, Russia and China plus Germany). The European Union (EU) also approved the Iran nuke deal on Monday.
The resolution, co-sponsored by all 15 members, is the first step to implement the agreement and to terminate sanctions on Iran, reported BBC.
The resolution takes effect in 90 days and the U.S. Congress has 60 days to decide whether to approve or reject the deal. U.S. President Barack Obama said he hoped the U.S. Congress would pay attention to the broad international consensus.
"There is broad international consensus around this issue. My working assumption is that Congress will pay attention to that broad basic consensus," he said, according to BBC.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a vocal critic of the deal, said that the nuclear deal brings war in the region close. "The hypocrisy knows no bounds. The best way to fight this hypocrisy is to tell the truth in a strong and unified manner," he told local parliament, according to Tehran Times.
"On a day when the ruler of Iran repeats again and again his intention to destroy the State of Israel, the U.N.'s Security Council gives a stamp of approval to a country systematically violating Security Council resolutions and calling for the destruction of Israel," Netanyahu said, according to Sputnik.
Iran issued a statement after the 15-member UNSC adopted resolution on the landmark agreement.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is committed to implementing its commitments... so long as the world powers keep their side of the agreement to lift sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran will not develop a nuclear programme", according to a Foreign Ministry statement. "Iran will in any case never seek a nuclear bomb in line with the historic fatwa (religious decree) of supreme guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has banned the use of weapons of mass destruction."
