Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the U.N. Security Council June 30 to tell its members that under no circumstances should the UN arms embargo on Iran be lifted; otherwise, Iran will be buying weapons with which it can threaten Europe. “This chamber has a choice,” he declared. “Stand for international peace and security, as the United Nations’ founders intended, or let the arms embargo on the Islamic Republic of Iran expire, betraying the UN’s mission and its finest ideals, which we have all pledged to uphold.”
“If you fail to act, Iran will be free to purchase Russian-made fighter jets that can strike up to a 3,000-kilometer radius, putting cities like Riyadh, New Delhi, Rome, and Warsaw in Iranian crosshairs.” He didn’t explain why Iran would want to bomb any of these cities.
The occasion for the session was to review the implementation of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program and U.N. Security Council resolution 2213, the resolution that made the JCPOA part of international law. The stage was set, however, by the UN Secretary General‛s report on the implementation of the JCPOA and UNSC 2231 which “confirmed” that Iranian-made weapons were used in the attacks on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in September 2019. “Iran is already violating the arms embargo, even before its expiration date,” Pompeo crowed. “Imagine if Iranian activity were sanctioned, authorized by this group, if the restrictions were lifted.”
Pompeo did not get the support he was perhaps expecting, however. China’s UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, said the five-year arms embargo — itself a compromise between the Obama administration and Moscow and Beijing — should end as scheduled under the 2015 resolution, reported AFP.
