US submits new draft resolution to Security Council for Iran arms embargo

The United States has submitted a new draft resolution to the Security Council to extend the arms embargo on Iran, which would bar the Islamic Republic from any arms deals. China and Russia have threatened to veto it.

The United States submitted a revised and updated version of a draft Iran arms embargo resolution to the Security Council on Tuesday, August 11. The plan would ban arms sales to Iran indefinitely and “until the Security Council decides otherwise.”

In a situation where Russia and China have opposed the arms embargo on Iran, the US's goal in presenting the new text is to attract as much support as possible from the 15 members of the Security Council.

Kelly Craft, the US ambassador to the UN, said the new draft had taken into account the advisory opinions. He stressed that, as everyone knows, “everything must be done to prevent Iran from buying and selling conventional weapons.”

"Common sense dictates that the world's number one sponsor of terrorism should not have access to more means to harm the world," he said in a statement.

The United States believes that the continuation of the Iran arms embargo, which officially expires on October 18, is "absolutely necessary to ensure international peace and security."

Diplomats have said that the US proposal could be finalized on Thursday and put to a vote in the Security Council on Friday.

According to news agencies that have obtained the draft text, this text is shorter than the text presented by the United States in June, containing only four paragraphs, while the previous text had 35 paragraphs.

It is said that the US's goal in "amending" the draft is to gain as many votes as possible to pass the resolution, as the previous text contained provisions that were said to go far beyond an arms embargo.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi, the Islamic Republic’s representative to the United Nations, said in a Twitter message that the United States was “forced to withdraw the previous plan and propose a new draft” due to opposition from Security Council members. He said that the nature and purpose of the new plan are similar to the previous draft.

The Donald Trump administration has repeatedly warned that if the Iran arms embargo is not extended, it will use the "trigger" mechanism in Security Council Resolution 2231 to reinstate all international sanctions against Iran that were lifted under the JCPOA nuclear deal.

This is while China and Russia, the two main members of the Security Council, say that the US is not allowed to resort to the "trigger" mechanism because it has unilaterally withdrawn from the nuclear agreement (JCPOA).

The United States accuses China and Russia of waiting to sell weapons to Iran once the arms embargo ends.

Source: DW