United States asks United Nations to extend arms embargo on Iran

The United States has asked the United Nations Security Council this week to extend the arms embargo on Iran, which will expire next October, according to the digital version of the Arab News newspaper. Brian Hook, the US special representative to Iran, has asked council members to respect the desire of Middle Eastern nations to live in peace by voting in favour of the ban on arms sales to the country by the ayatollahs, which was introduced in 2007. "Letting the arms embargo expire after five years was a major shortcoming of the 2015 nuclear agreement that Iran signed. It was an irresponsible concession," Hook explained in a virtual conference picked up by Arab News. Hook called the new proposal "a compromise text" with the United States.

The U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Iran in 2007, but when world leaders drafted the multilateral agreement on Iran's nuclear energy in 2015, a five-year sunset clause on the embargo was negotiated, setting an expiration date of October 2020. The agreement was dependent on Iran's compliance with the nuclear agreement. If Iran was found to be non-compliant, any member that signed the agreement could request mediation or a "rollback" of the sanctions, including the arms embargo. 

If this week's Security Council motion is vetoed, Washington plans to use that step of the nuclear deal to override the sanctions, even though the United States, one of the original signatories, withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 on the order of Donald Trump, who called it "the worst deal in history. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft has called on all members to "wake up to the real implications for the world of allowing the arms embargo to lapse. The purpose of the U.N. Security Council is to promote global peace and security. Failure to extend the arms embargo would make a mockery of that responsibility". 

Hook has read a quote from a letter the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have drafted to ask the council to extend the arms embargo which states: "Iran is stockpiling weapons as part of its regional expansion policy and its tendency to meddle in the internal affairs of other Arab nations, including GCC member states, in clear violation of the United Nations' face of rights. Iran is a nation that sponsors terrorism in the region and has encouraged terrorist groups throughout the area. Hook has left his post this week and will be replaced by Elliott Abrams. Hook has called his successor a great connoisseur of the Middle East and believes he will do a great job. 

Some diplomats are doubtful that the UN Security Council will extend the embargo to Iran, according to the Middle East Eye. In addition to Europe's hesitation to follow Washington's plan, Russia and China have shown no signs of being open to negotiations on the issue, and are expected to veto the motion. "I am confident that the members of the Security Council will reject the attempts of the US Administration to scrap the 2015 nuclear agreement," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a statement released by the Middle East Eye. 

Still, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seems confident that Washington will get its way, insisting during an interview Wednesday that the United States is determined to ensure that the embargo extension is carried out. Pressure from Washington, including the reintroduction of sanctions on Iran, has put an already fragile nuclear deal between Tehran and the world powers at further risk.