U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this week that Iran will lose its voting rights in the General Assembly after failing to pay its dues to the multilateral organization’s operating budget.
In a letter to General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir, Guterres said that the theocratic regime, along with countries including the Central African Republic and Somalia, are in arrears. Iran will be unable to vote, but a prior resolution allowed some countries, including Somalia to continue to vote in the current session, which will end in September.
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Iran would need to pay $16,251,298 to have its voting rights restored, compared to the $1,443,640 owed by Somalia and $29,395 owed by the Central African Republic.
The U.N.’s charter says the members whose arrears equal or exceed the amount of the contributions for the prior two years lose their rights — but it also allowed the General Assembly to decide that their non-payment is beyond their control and allow them to continue to vote.
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Iran and its movements at the U.N. are being carefully watched as it looks to possibly reenter the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was codified by the U.N. Security Council. Talks are ongoing to bring both the U.S. — which left during the Trump administration — and Iran back into the agreement.
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The U.S., meanwhile, has been reentering U.N. institutions from which the Trump administration had withdrawn — including the World Health Organization and the controversial Human Rights Council.
Fox News’ Ben Evansky and The Associated Press contributed to this report.