US presses ahead on Iran arms embargo

WASHINGTON－The United States will present a resolution in the United Nations Security Council next week to extend an international arms embargo on Iran, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday, despite lukewarm support for the bid.

"We're not going to let the arms embargo expire on Oct 18 of this year,"Pompeo said at a news conference.

He also threatened to trigger the snapback mechanism in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to reimpose UN sanctions against Teheran.

Despite his threats, the US appears to be isolated on the issue.

Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said in late June that the US is no longer a participant of the Iran nuclear deal and thus has no right to trigger the snapback mechanism at the Security Council.

Foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany also noted in June that they would not support any unilateral attempt to trigger UN sanctions snapback.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last month that any attempts to extend the arms embargo against Iran indefinitely are illegitimate.

Under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, the arms embargo will be lifted this October. Teheran said it would not accept a renewal of the embargo.

That resolution had blessed a denuclearization deal with Iran negotiated by then US president Barack Obama from which President Donald Trump pulled out, denouncing it as a blunder.

But Pompeo has offered the contested argument that Washington remains a "participant" in the accord as it was listed in the 2015 resolution－and therefore can force a return to sanctions if it sees Iran as being in violation of its terms.

Even European allies of the US have been skeptical on whether Washington can force sanctions and warn that the attempt may delegitimize the Security Council.

The Europeans support extending the embargo but say the priority should be to preserve the nuclear accord－which is backed by Joe Biden, Trump's presumptive Democratic rival in the November elections.

Pompeo ran into wide skepticism when he directly pressed the Security Council on the arms embargo in June.

Iran says it has the right to self-defense and that a continuation of the ban would mean an end to the nuclear deal.

Xinhua - Agencies