Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to lift the arms sanctions on Iran, stressing that any US measure to extend them is a violation of the nuclear agreement.
The Iranian presidency said that Rouhani called, in a phone call with Macron, to European countries to prevent opponents of the nuclear deal from achieving their goals.
The Iranian president also expressed to his French counterpart his welcome to France's invitation to Iran to participate in the international group to support Lebanon.
Diplomatic sources reported to Al-Jazeera that the United States distributed an amended draft resolution to the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo on Iran.
The sources stated that the amended draft resolution removed paragraphs from the first wording in which it was proposed, including imposing legal obligations on states to prevent the sale of weapons to Iran.
Commenting on this, Rouhani said that his country believes that Washington will fail once again to pass the draft resolution, warning of the repercussions of its adoption.
The arms embargo currently imposed on Tehran expires next October under the nuclear agreement signed between it and six world powers in 2015.
Diplomats and analysts described the previous US draft of the draft resolution as strict. The draft required countries to inspect shipments coming from and heading to Iran, and included an appendix with sanctions that target individuals and entities.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the US version of the draft resolution as "totally illegal," and said, "I am confident that the Security Council will reject it."