AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The United States has threatened to impose sanctions on any individuals and entities that get engaged in arms transfer to and from Iran, claiming that the sales to Tehran would be in breach of United Nations resolutions despite the lifting of a decade-long arms embargo on the Islamic Republic.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that arms sales to Iran would violate UN resolutions and result in sanctions, hours after Tehran announced that the longstanding UN embargo on arms trade with the Islamic republic had expired.
“The United States is prepared to use its domestic authorities to sanction any individual or entity that materially contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer of conventional arms to or from Iran," Pompeo said in a statement.
The US secretary of state also claimed that, "Every nation that seeks peace and stability in West Asia… should refrain from any arms transactions with Iran."
President Hassan Rouhani announced on Wednesday that Iran would be free to trade weapons as of October 18 after the United States failed in its attempts to secure an extension of the United Nations arms embargo against the Islamic Republic.
Rouhani congratulated the Iranian nation on the lifting of the “oppressive” 10-year arms ban on Tehran despite Washington’s struggles to keep the restrictions in force, and said the ban expiry was a fruit of the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), for the country.
The administration of US President Donald Trump was dealt a heavy blow in mid-August as it failed to renew the Iranian arms embargo through a resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The draft was supported only by the Dominican Republic, leaving it far short of the minimum nine “yes” votes required for adoption.
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