"Mr. Obama's plan to prevent Russia or China from casting vetoes that block snapback poses hidden dangers for America. Under the deal and Security Council Resolution 2231, if a JCPOA party asserts that a significant violation has occurred, then the council must vote within 30 days on whether 'to continue the sanctions lifting.'
Thus, in theory, if Washington alleged a breach, Moscow and Beijing would have the burden of keeping the sanctions lifted, rather than Washington having the burden of reinstituting them. Absent a resolution 'to continue the sanctions lifting,' sanctions snap back.
By concocting a procedure that elides the Russian or Chinese vetoes, Mr. Obama has surreptitiously accomplished a prized objective of the international left, which always disapproved on principle of the veto power. Through 70 years of United Nations history, one lodestar emerges clearly: Washington's only immutable protection has been its Security Council veto. Mr. Obama's end-run around the veto poses long-term risks that far outweigh whatever short-term gain is to be had from boxing in Russia and China now.
Dean Acheson, Truman's secretary of state, made a comparable mistake in his 'Uniting for Peace' strategy, trying to overcome Soviet vetoes during the Korean War by empowering the General Assembly. Acheson rejected British fears that the tactic might backfire; as he later wrote, 'present difficulties outweighed possible future ones, and we pressed on.' We should not repeat the error.
Luckily, over the years, the lack of decisiveness in a General Assembly that has grown to nearly four times its original size has saved us from ourselves. But Mr. Obama's device creates a harmful precedent that could be used to defeat the veto power of all five permanent members of the council, and especially the United States.
Unfortunately, snapback sanctions are just as likely to be empty political rhetoric as Mr. Obama's incantations about all options being on the table. The list of reasons to oppose the Vienna deal is already long, but the pitfalls of snapback sanctions surely rank near the top."