Extend embargo on Iran, Pompeo tells UNSC

United Nations, July 1

Asserting that Iran is "not a responsible democracy" like Australia or India, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the UNSC to extend the arms embargo on Tehran, failing which the country would be free to purchase Russia-made fighter jets putting Riyadh, New Delhi, Rome, and Warsaw in Iranian crosshairs. "Because of the flawed nuclear deal negotiated by the previous American administration, the arms embargo on the world's most heinous terrorist regime is scheduled to expire on October 18, a mere four months from now," he told a virtual UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday. Pompeo said the UN Security Council has a choice -- either stand for international peace and security, as the United Nations' founders intended, or let the arms embargo on Iran expire, "betraying" the UN's mission and its finest ideals, which nations 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 said.

The top US diplomat said if the arms embargo is not extended, Iran will be free to upgrade and expand its fleet of submarines to further threaten international shipping and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea.

"Iran will hold a sword of Damocles over the economic stability of the Middle East, endangering nations like Russia and China that rely on stable energy prices. Iran will be free to become a rogue weapons dealer, supplying arms to fuel conflicts from Venezuela to Syria, to the far reaches of Afghanistan," he said.

Noting that in November of last year President Hassan Rouhani had said that when the embargo is "lifted next year, we can easily buy and sell weapons", Pompeo said the Council should take Rouhani at his word, since "Iran is not a responsible democracy like Australia or India. We already know that Tehran will do, if given the ability to buy more weaponry." He said renewing the embargo will exert more pressure on Tehran to start "behaving like a normal nation". He said the UNSC cannot simply hope that Iran acts in good faith, given its indisputable fact pattern. "The council must hold Iran accountable and we all have the chance to do so." Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif responded that if the Council "falters", it will be a "generational setback" for multilateralism and the rule of law. "The international community in general and the UN Security Council in particular are facing an important decision: Do we maintain respect for the rule of law or do we return to the law of the jungle by surrendering to the whims of an outlaw bully?" he posed. PTI