Iran
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press briefing at the State department on August 16, 2018. File photo:Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United States has continued calls for an extension of an arms embargo against Iran ahead of a crucial UN vote next week.
Speaking before the US Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “the Security Council must renew the UN arms embargo against Iran before it expires. Iran already mines ships in the Strait of Hormuz, launches missiles at Saudi oil facilities, and ships arms to the Houthis.”
The US Department of State shared a post to its Facebook page early Saturday renewing calls for an extension on the embargo, posting a photo with a quote from Pompeo warning of further Iranian aggression.
“Should the Security Council fail to act, Iran will have a freer hand to sow destruction across the Middle East,” read the text.
The UNSC is set to vote on an extension to the embargo next week, Pompeo announced on Wednesday.
The arms embargo against Iran is set to expire on October 18 but the US has pushed for its renewal, fearing that Iran may expand its intervention in regional affairs. However, Russia and China are expected to veto any draft by the US to renew the embargo.
“We have an objective to extend the arms embargo,” US Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook said in a phone briefing to reporters on Thursday. “That can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way, but it’s going to be extended.”
Hook, who announced on the same day that he was stepping down from his position, also said that Iran would cause further regional destabilization in the region if the embargo is not extended.
The US has blamed Iran for unrest in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and other regional countries, adding that Iran uses its proxies to gain regional interests, support terrorism and increase its influence there.
Iran and the five permanent members of the Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany signed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. The deal was meant to gradually lift sanctions on Iran in return of Iran’s commitment to reduce its nuclear activities.
However, US President Donald Trump announced US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in May 2018. The US later imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran.
“Iran has still been able to move a lot of weapons around the Middle East to its proxies in the gray zone … If this is what Iran has been able to accomplish in the dark, imagine what they will be able to accomplish in broad daylight,” Hook said on Thursday.
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