Continue to pressure .. US moves to intensify efforts to extend the arms embargo on Iran

American pressure and moves to extend the arms embargo against Iran continue, two days after Washington submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council in this regard.

In recent developments, congressional sources said on Thursday that nearly 90% of US House members signed a letter urging the administration of President Donald Trump to increase its diplomatic move at the United Nations to extend the arms embargo against Iran. 

In a rare display of bipartisan synergy, at least 382 of 429 members of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives signed the letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The deputies urged the minister to work with US allies and partners to extend the embargo, which expires in October, and to extend the UN travel restrictions on Iranians involved in the proliferation of weapons.

"The United Nations arms embargo is expected to end in October, and we are concerned that the end of the embargo will lead to more From countries to buy and sell weapons to and from Iran. "

"We urge you to work with allies and partners who embrace the same thought, including through a new United Nations Security Council resolution, to extend those provisions in order to prevent Iran from buying and selling weapons, while also working to increase accountability for violations of the existing embargo" ".

Congressional aides said the process of collecting signatures was still underway, and the letter had not yet been sent to the State Department.

Draft Resolution
On Tuesday, the United States submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo imposed on Iran, while Tehran confirmed that it would not abide by it. 

Washington distributed the draft resolution to France, Britain and Germany, all of whom are signatories to the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the major powers.

US diplomats said Washington plans to submit the project to a vote in May, when Estonia, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, takes over the presidency of the Security Council.

The Trump administration is taking a tougher stance with the United Nations over Washington's desire to extend and tighten the embargo, and threatens to activate the return of all UN sanctions against Iran as a way to obtain the support of the 15-member Security Council. Diplomats said this would lead to a fierce and chaotic battle.

US special envoy Brian Hook said on Thursday at a news conference that the United States was "optimistic" that the Security Council would extend the arms embargo.

He also indicated that Washington had no intention of moving quickly in its bid to extend the arms embargo.

Trump withdrew the United States from that agreement in 2018, and promised to conclude a deal much better than the agreement concluded by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, but the new agreement has not yet been achieved.

Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations, Majeed Takht Rawanji, had previously said that American efforts to extend the arms embargo against Iran were against UN Resolution 2231.

He added that the Americans have come to the Middle East from their country thousands of miles away, and it is better for them to leave the region as soon as possible.

For his part, the secretary of the Expediency Council in Iran Mohsen Rezai said today that the international arms embargo imposed on Iran will end soon, and that no one can then prevent his country from acquiring conventional weapons.