The Guardian has quoted unnamed UN diplomats as saying that it was US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's hardline stance that led to Washington's isolation at the UN Security Council (UNSC) which recently moved not to allow an extension of an arms embargo on Iran.
"The Americans were actually being over the top in their ridiculousness", one of the diplomats said, referring to remarks by Pompeo who accused the Europeans of choosing to "side with the ayatollahs" when voting on the embargo.
"The underlying point here is that most countries on the Security Council basically agree with the US that Iran is not a nice country and it having nuclear weapons and more arms is not a good thing. But the Americans misplayed their hand so often, so aggressively, that they isolated themselves from people not on policy, but on just being unpleasant", the source added.
'America Has Never Been So Isolated', Tehran Says
The remarks followed Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi tweeting last Saturday that "America has never been so isolated" after just two of the Council's 15 members supported Washington's resolution to extend the embargo against Tehran.
"Despite all the trips, pressure, and the hawking, the United States could only mobilise a small country (to vote) with them", Mousavi pointed out, referring to the Dominican Republic.
He was echoed by Iran's UN envoy Majid Takht Ravanchi, who underscored that the vote "shows - once more - the US' isolation".
"The US must learn from this debacle. Its attempt to 'snapback' sanctions is illegal, and was rejected by the international community, as was evident today", Ravanchi said in a statement on Twitter last Saturday.
Pompeo, in turn, slammed the UNSC rejection of Washington's "reasonable" resolution, pledging that the Trump administration would continue to do everything possible to ensure that Iran is not able to buy and sell weapons on the international marketplace.
For years, Tehran has faced a US arms embargo, set to expire in October under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The agreement envisaged Iran scaling back its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
US President Donald Trump announced Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018, prompting Tehran to step away from its nuclear commitments.