Kharrazi said that the unilateral and misguided policies of the three European member states of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, led by the United States, to stop Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities have always backfired, as Iran has become more determined to develop its nuclear technology, according to IRNA.

The US push to extend the Iran arms embargo in the UN Security Council and the three European countries’ anti-Iran move at the International Atomic Energy Agency will not only fail to deter Iran but undoubtedly lead to the collapse of the nuclear agreement as well, Kharrazi added.

The West must understand that neither economic sanctions nor an arms embargo will deter Iran from pursuing an independent strategic path. Iran has so far pursued its policy of self-sufficiency in the face of maximum Western pressure and has achieved successes in producing the defensive weapons it needs, he said.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the nuclear deal and later reimposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran on the back of the deal. The US intransigence flew in the face of the fact that the deal has been ratified by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the form of Resolution 2231.

Although it is no longer a party to the deal, Washington has recently launched a campaign to renew the embargo on the sale of conventional weapons to the Islamic Republic that will expire under the JCPOA in October.

The US recently served the UNSC with a draft resolution to extend the arms embargo.

Washington has threatened to force a “snapback” of all sanctions against Iran if its drive to renew the arms embargo failed.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo urged the UN Security Council to extend the expiring arms embargo as world powers from China to Europe pushed back against US threats to reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran if the weapons ban lapses, according to Bloomberg.

China and Russia – veto-wielding members of the council – warned on Tuesday that they won’t support that effort and were joined by Europe in disputing a Trump administration assertion that it holds the right to reimpose UN sanctions even though the US quit the accord in 2018.

Addressing a virtual UNSC meeting on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the United States was an “outlaw bully” to whom the world body should not surrender, warning that giving in to Washington’s pressure threatens to restore the “law of the jungle.”