Security Council discusses US proposal to extend Iran’s arms embargo

Eslam Mohamed

The UN Security Council will vote on Friday, August 14 on a US proposal to extend the arms embargo imposed on Iran, although there is opposition from the Russians and Chinese.

Iran breaches previous agreement

The Security Council meeting comes days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Tehran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, warning that its acquisition of weapons systems from the Chinese Communist Party threatens regional security. US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft confirmed that Russia and China want to benefit from ending the arms embargo on Tehran and are waiting for the opportunity to sell weapons to the mullah regime.

The ban, which came under the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and Russia, China, Germany, Britain, France and the United States, is set to expire in October. The agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and also provided for easing sanctions against it. Therefore, it is likely that the renewal of the arms embargo will lead to the collapse of the agreement, because Iran will lose a major incentive to limit its nuclear activities. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had previously announced that his country would remain in the agreement in order to obtain its benefits related to lifting the ban on the purchase heavy weapons.

Although Iran violated parts of the nuclear agreement after the United States withdrew from it and imposed new unilateral sanctions, the agreement has remained alive. Former US Representative on Iran Brian Hook said, “We must return to the UN Security Council’s criteria for non-enrichment,” which is an allusion to his country’s desire for re-imposing all UN sanctions on Tehran, which include six packages of sanctions imposed from 2006 to 2015.

US proposes ban extension

The US proposal needs at least nine votes to approve it, without any of the five permanent member states using their right of veto, which are France, Britain, Russia and China, along with the United States.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei threatened that his country “will respond appropriately and firmly” if the ban is extended.

Rabiei accused Washington of “using the UN Security Council as a tool against the Council itself and international institutions and pluralism,” considering that “any resolution violating Security Council Resolution 2231 would be unacceptable and a mockery of international laws.” He added that until the United States fully returns to the nuclear agreement and implements all its obligations, it has no rights against the text of the agreement and the UN resolution supporting it.

On Sunday, August 9, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) sent a letter to the UN Security Council, calling to extend the arms embargo to and from Iran “due to its continued deployment of weapons in the region, the arming of terrorist and sectarian organizations and movements, and its direct armed interference in neighboring countries.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi attacked the GCC following its request to extend the arms embargo, which expires on October 18.