US Push for Violation of Int’l Law Against Iran Will Fail

EghtesadOnline: The United States is asking the United Nations Security Council to violate international law by extending an arms embargo on Iran, but its illegitimate request will fail to secure approval, Iran’s envoy to the UN said.

News ID: ۷۴۹۸۷۶

20 April 2020

"This time, the US is calling on #UNSC to violate its very resolution 2231, and continue arms restrictions on Iran. But US will not succeed in wooing others to violate int'l law," Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Twitter on Sunday.

According to Financial Tribune, resolution 2231 endorsed the 2015 international nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, under which the UN arms embargo on Iran will be lifted in October 2020, five years after the deal’s adoption day.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday that the UN Security Council must extend the embargo, warning that the removal of restrictions on Iran could lead to an escalation of Iran’s alleged violence and the start of an arms race in the Middle East.

"The clock is ticking," he tweeted, accusing Iran of firing ballistic missiles at its neighbors, mining and capturing oil tankers, and smuggling weapons into conflict zones among other baseless allegations of such kind.

Takht-Ravanchi said this is another attempt by the US to distract from its continued "economic terrorism" on the Iranian people.

Washington reimposed sweeping sanctions on Tehran in 2018 after it withdrew unilaterally from JCPOA.

It has refused to ease its pressure even amid the coronavirus pandemic despite an international call, while Iran's response to the disease is seriously hampered by the restrictions.

The purpose of the so-called maximum pressure campaign is to force Iranian leaders to agree to more concessions on the country's defensive and regional activities.

The deal includes a number of "sunset provisions", lifting restrictions on Iran's military, missiles and nuclear programs within certain periods of time. The first to expire is the UN ban on weapons sales to Tehran.

The provisions were a key factor in US President Donald Trump's decision to drop JCPOA.

*** Russian Stance

Russia, a permanent member of UNSC, on the other hand, has already announced that it would not support extending the arms embargo.

Mikhail Ulyanov, its permanent representative to IAEA, recently ruled out the possibility of renewing UN restrictions, arguing that a risk of arms race can hardly be removed through arms embargo against one country, but requires collective efforts through negotiations.

"Usually an arms race is not unilateral. It is a collective endeavor even at level of great powers or in regional & subregional context,” he tweeted late on Saturday.

Tehran and Washington almost got into a war on Iraqi soil earlier this year after the US assassinated Iranian top commander Major General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in January.

Iran responded by launching missiles at locations hosting American forces, causing brain injuries to more than 100 soldiers.