Pompeo Warns against Imminent End of UN Arms Embargo on Iran

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvandi, announced that his country’s stockpile of 4.5 percent enriched uranium has reached 370 kilograms.

His remarks coincided with a tweet by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who warned about the approaching end of the UN arms embargo and other sanctions against Iran.

“The clock is ticking. Time remaining before the UN arms embargo on Iran expires and Qasem Soleimani’s travel ban ends. We urge our allies and partners to increase the pressure on the Iranian regime until it stops its destabilizing behavior,” he wrote.

Soleimani is the leader of the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Along with the tweet, the State Department posted a brief statement describing Iran as “the world’s leading state sponsor of terror.”

“For over 40 years their malign behavior and support for terrorist proxies has spread uncurbed,” it added.

“The implementation of the JCPOA, informally known as the ‘2015 Iran Nuclear Deal,’ has placed even more resources and money at the regime’s disposal, furthering the reach and aggression of their malign activities. This is why the United States left the JCPOA and implemented decisive sanctions to curb the regime’s ability to fund terror,” the State Department warned.

It went on to say: “Time is running out on international agreements restraining the Iranian regime. For example, the head of the brutal Revolutionary Guard Corps, Qasem Soleimani, will be allowed to travel on October 18, 2020. Soon after, the Iranian regime will also be free to sell weapons to anyone, including terrorist proxies, and countries like Russia and China will be able to sell the Iranian regime tanks, missiles and air defense equipment. This could start a new arms race in the Middle East and further destabilize the region and the world.”

The US State Department called on the international community to “stand together against the Iranian regime’s support for terror.”

Meanwhile, Kamalvandi said on Tuesday that Iran’s stockpile of 4.5 percent enriched uranium has reached 370 kilograms. This contradicts the country’s pledges in the nuclear deal.

Iranian local media quoted him as saying: “We are producing [enriched uranium] with a good capacity and our stockpile is 60 to 70 kilograms above the 300kg [limit] and this amount is growing fast.”