On Tuesday, the United States (US) circulated a draft resolution to the U.N Security Council to indefinitely extend an arms embargo on Iran.
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in the virtual Security Council meeting, said, “Don’t just take it from the United States, listen to countries in the region. From Israel to the Gulf, countries in the Middle East – who are most exposed to Iran’s predations – are speaking with one voice: Extend the arms embargo.”
Pompeo’s statement reflects the U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration’s long-held argument that the arms embargo on Iran, that is set to end in mid-October under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal, should not be lifted.
The U.N security council veto-powers Russia and China have already stated their opposition to the draft resolution.
Russia slammed US’s policy towards Iran by stating the draft resolution as like “putting a knee” to Iran’s neck.
This statement by Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia comes in a veiled reference to the death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis after a white police officer knelt on his neck.
Abdullah Al Mouallimi, Saudi Arabia’s U.N. Ambassador, stated that although Russia and China had been “sympathetic” to Saudi’s situation, their proposal to extending embargo on Iran was because they “presumably had scores to settle with the United States.”
Britain, France and Germany all said they would not back the U.S. in unilaterally triggering a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran but they all expressed concern of lifting the embargo on Iran for regional security and stability.
In response, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, said: “The international community in general — and the U.N. Security Council in particular — are facing an important decision: Do we maintain respect for the rule of law, or do we return to the law of the jungle by surrendering to the whims of an outlaw bully?”