US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he counts on the support of European allies in extending the arms embargo against Iran. He said this in an interview with Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty *. The text of the conversation was published on the website of the US Department of State.

“Iran is a real threat to Europe. We have seen the campaigns he is running here, we have noted the likelihood of assassination plots, we have seen how they are persecuted throughout Europe. It makes no sense for a single European country to support the desire of the Iranians to possess weapons, ”said the head of the State Department.

We will remind, earlier, the United States submitted to the UN Security Council a resolution providing for an extension of the arms embargo against Iran, which expires on October 18, 2020. Restrictions on the supply of weapons to this country have been in effect since 2015. They were spelled out in UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrined the provisions of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan to resolve the situation around the Iranian nuclear program.

According to Pompeo, Europeans also share US concerns "about Iran's weapons."

"They have a simple way to ensure that Iran will not be able to buy and sell weapons: vote for the adoption of a resolution by the UN Security Council, and then Iran will continue to be prohibited from having such weapons," the head of the State Department added.

When asked by a journalist about how Washington intends to bypass the veto of Russia and China, which are likely to block the resolution, Pompeo did not give a clear answer, noting only that the United States has the right to propose to extend the embargo in accordance with UNSCR 2231.

“Under Resolution 2231, any country can turn to the Security Council. The United States, Britain, France can do this to avoid it. There is a provision in resolution 2231 that allows this, ”Pompeo said.

  • US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
  • Reuters
  • © Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Meanwhile, on the eve of the US Permanent Representative to the UN Kelly Kraft urged the members of the Security Council to vote for the resolution.

“I call on all members of the Security Council to understand the real implications of lifting this arms embargo. The main purpose of the Security Council is to promote global peace and security. The non-extension of the arms embargo would mean a mockery of the sacred responsibility that was entrusted to the United Nations when it was created, ”Kraft said in a message posted on the website of the American permanent mission.

According to her, this measure is due to the aggressive policy of Iran in the Middle East.

“This is a simple, rational measure requested by the countries of the Middle East, most affected by the fact that Iran actively supports terrorism and atrocities in the region and beyond,” the US official said.

Nuclear deal

As a reminder, the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan was agreed on July 14, 2015 by Russia, the USA, China, Great Britain, France and Germany with the participation of the EU representative Federica Mogherini. 

Under the terms of the deal, Iran abandoned its own nuclear program in exchange for lifting all current UN Security Council sanctions, a number of unilateral US sanctions and all restrictive measures by the EU.

The so-called arms embargo is one of the elements of the JCPOA. Formally, this regime cannot be called a full-fledged embargo, since it does not legally prohibit the supply of weapons: arms sales to Iran can be carried out, but with the permission of the UN Security Council. However, due to the fact that the United States has a veto in the Security Council, such deals cannot actually be carried out, since Washington will never approve them, analysts remind.

After Donald Trump came to power in the United States, Washington began to revise its Iranian policy. As part of the new foreign policy, on May 8, 2018, the American administration announced its withdrawal from the JCPOA, arguing that Iran allegedly violates the terms of the deal. However, no evidence of these violations was presented. However, this did not prevent the United States from renewing the sanctions regime against Iran. At the same time, other participants in the nuclear deal condemned Washington's actions and declared their intention to abide by the terms of the JCPOA.

At the end of June 2020, the United States proposed to the UN Security Council to consider a resolution to extend the arms embargo against Iran, but Russia and China made it clear that such a document would be blocked.

  • Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Security Council Vasily Nebenzya
  • Reuters
  • © Brendan McDermid

“We cannot accept attempts to obtain a blessing in the Council for the US policy of maximum pressure on Iran,” said Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN at the time.

In turn, the Chinese permanent representative Zhang Jun stressed that the United States, after withdrawing from the JCPOA, lost the right to demand the return of sanctions in the Security Council.

In July 2020, at a press conference following talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Russia opposes the extension of the arms embargo.

“The Security Council has introduced a permissive regime for the supply of certain types of weapons to Iran, it is applied for a limited period of time, which expires in October. And any attempts to somehow take advantage of the current situation in order to prolong this regime, and even more so to introduce an indefinite arms embargo, have no legal grounds, neither political nor moral, ”the Russian Foreign Minister said.

The minister also recalled that this provision was included in Resolution 2231 as a gesture of goodwill from Iran as part of a package that "has nothing to do with the Iranian nuclear program."

For its part, Iran has already made it clear that the extension of the permissive regime for the supply of weapons will mean the final break of the nuclear deal.

“Recently they initiated a meeting of the UN Security Council with the aim of creating prerequisites for extending the arms embargo against Iran. If the United States succeeds, then it will be possible to ascertain the death of the JCPOA, "Iranian Ambassador to the Russian Federation Kazem Jalali said in an interview with the Russia 24 TV channel in July.

"Major foreign policy mistake"

According to experts, the US proposal to extend the embargo against Iran is conditioned by the desire to finally destroy the JCPOA and increase pressure on Tehran.

“America is a traditional opponent of Iran's regional influence. The United States is now forced to clean up the situation caused by the invasion of Iraq, as a result of which Iran's influence in the region has increased dramatically. They don't know what to do with this influence now, "Boris Mezhuev, a political scientist and associate professor of the philosophy department of Moscow State University, told RT in an interview.

The expert also believes that the US withdrawal from the JCPOA was "Washington's major foreign policy mistake."

“Thus, they made the problem of the Iranian nuclear program insoluble. All these questions will remain open and will be forwarded to the next US administration. If Trump wins the upcoming elections, the conflict with Iran will continue to develop, ”Mezhuev said.

At the same time, analysts agreed that the US would not be able to bypass the veto of Russia and China in the UN Security Council. 

“This is a question of global bargaining, negotiations concerning not only the Iranian topic, but all other issues. At the moment, the Trump administration is unlikely to bypass the Russian and Chinese vetoes. Moreover, no one will now discuss something with its representatives, since it is not clear whether these people will stay in their places after the US elections, ”Mezhuev said.

At the same time, according to Konstantin Blokhin, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Europe's support for the American resolution is not guaranteed to Washington either.

“US actions to Europe seem too aggressive and ill-considered. One destruction of the JCPOA is worth it. After all, its agreement was previously seen as a triumph of American and European multilateral diplomacy. Trump actually destroyed this achievement, "the analyst said in an interview with RT.

It is worth noting that in mid-June at the UN Security Council meeting on Iran, Great Britain, France and Germany already declared the "unacceptability of unilateral proposals leading to the renewal of sanctions" against Tehran.

At the same time, Russia and China consistently oppose any actions leading to destabilization in the Middle East, experts say.

“For Russia and China, Iran is an ally, a responsible player who does not destabilize the situation in the region, but observes the status quo,” Blokhin stressed.

Boris Mezhuev, in turn, pointed out that there are no formal reasons for extending the embargo.

“Russia believes that there are no real grounds for this, since Iran is fulfilling the agreements on the deal, although the United States has withdrawn from it. Washington's actions in this case are similar to force pressure, devoid of a legal basis, therefore, neither Moscow nor Beijing are ready to obey the will of the American administration, "the expert said. 

Analysts also note that after the removal of the permissive regime, Russia will be able to expand its cooperation with Iran in the military sphere.

* Media recognized as a foreign agent by the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 05.12.2017.