Ambassador Kelly Craft Permanent Representative   U.S. Mission to the United Nations / Credit: UN Photo 

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –  NEW  YORK –  The United States introduced a watered down Security Council resolution Wednesday that would extend a U.N. arms embargo on Iran indefinitely, in an effort to to garner  more support on the  Council.  The revised draft resolution now states it would simply extend the embargo “until the Security Council decides otherwise.” Russia and China, with their Veto power,  have voiced strong opposition to the US draft resolution and most certainly vote against it .

“Today the United States introduced a draft Security Council resolution to extend the existing embargo on conventional weapons sales to and from Iran. The resolution introduced by the United States follows months of active American diplomacy. It is a straightforward, common-sense measure requested by countries in the Middle East that have suffered the most as a result of the Iranian regime’s active support for terrorism and mayhem across the region and beyond. I call upon all Security Council members to wake up to the real-world implications of allowing this arms embargo to lapse. The Security Council’s central purpose is to promote global peace and security. Failure to extend the arms embargo would make a mockery of that sacred responsibility on which the United Nations was created.” 

-U.S. Ambassador  Kelly  Craft 

The U.S. ambassador added: “Iran’s actions fuel conflict, chaos, and human suffering on a broad scale. It continues to endanger the lives and livelihoods of millions of innocent men, women, and children by actively supporting proxy groups and terrorist organizations in countries like Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq.”

The UN  banned Iran from buying major foreign weapon systems in 2010 amid tensions over its nuclear program. In 2018,  President Donald Trump’s 2018 withdrew  from the 2015 nuclear deal between six major powers and Iran, aimed at preventing Iranian development of nuclear weapons. The Trump administration then launched its campaign to make the arms embargo permanent.  If the resolution is defeated, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested the US would invoke the “snap back” mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal that would restore all UN sanctions on Iran.

 Zarif says UN will vote down US proposal on Iran arms embargo

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the contentious US proposal to extend an arms embargo against Tehran will not be passed by the UN Security Council, reports Al-Monitor.com.  “Zarif once again argued that the US proposal runs counter to international law and called the attempt to get it ratified at the council a “mischievous plot” that disrespects the other council members.”

US is so desperate to show support for its struggle to illegally extend arms restrictions on Iran that it clings to the personal position of GCC SG—obtained thru coercion—as regional consensus.

All knew that most in the region—even in GCC—do NOT subscribe to this.

Here's proof: pic.twitter.com/EB5527WvWk

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) August 12, 2020