Iran is in the process of recovering its right to vote at the UN, lost on January 11 for excessive unpaid UN budgets, after releasing Friday a little more than 18 million dollars to a UN account in Seoul. , we learned from UN sources.
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“This money is expected on Sunday or Monday,” one of these sources told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations provides for the suspension of the right to vote in the General Assembly for any country whose amount of arrears is equal to or greater than the contribution owed by it for the past two full years.
On January 11, the UN Secretary General announced that Iran had to pay 18.4 million dollars to recover its right to vote.
Last year, Iran had already lost its right to vote due to non-payment. Tehran had said it could not meet the minimum required for its debts to the UN due to economic and financial sanctions imposed by the United States.
After several months of negotiations, Tehran was able in June to use funds blocked in South Korea to pay the minimum debts required and recover its right to vote, just before the election of new members to the Security Council of the UN.
In early January, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Iran was “determined to pay its dues in full and on time.” “Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, due to oppressive and illegal US sanctions, our country’s payments have been in difficulty,” he added, calling on the UN to find a solution quickly.
The UN’s annual operating budget, approved in December, is about $3 billion. That of peace operations, separated and approved in June, reached some 6.5 billion dollars.