The Libya Quartet, which brings together the United Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union (AU), and the European Union (EU), called for the withdrawal of foreigners in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The leaders of the Libya Quartet, who met through videoconference, called for “the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from the entirety of Libya’s territory.”

The demanded “full compliance with the arms embargo” imposed by the UN on the North African country.

The arms embargo, which has been in place since 2011, has been routinely violated despite pledges made by the foreign patrons of the Libyan warring sides and other concerned parties during a summit in Berlin in January 2020 not to interfere in Libya’s internal affairs and its conflict and to “fully respect” the embargo.

Libya has been grappling with unchecked violence since the overthrow of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi during an uprising backed by NATO in 2011.

Since 2014, the country has been the scene of fighting between government forces and armed rebels.

The conflict has escalated into a regional proxy war fueled by foreign powers pouring weapons and mercenaries into the country.

The Libyan rebels are supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Jordan. And the government forces are backed by Turkey.

According to the UN, some 20,000 foreign fighters, mainly troops from Turkey and mercenaries from Russia, Syria, Chad, and Sudan, are currently deployed in Libya.

The Libya Quartet “condemned the continued violations of the UN arms embargo and emphasized that all external military intervention in Libya is unacceptable.”

Following the meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter, “After years of senseless violence and suffering, there is a window of opportunity in Libya.”

“We stand with the people of Libya and pledge to work with them to help build a better future,” he said.

The UN mediated a historic ceasefire agreement between the Libyan warring parties last October.

That agreement led to the formation of an interim unity government, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

The interim government will run the country until presidential and parliamentary elections on December 24.

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“Iran has many friends and trading partners, and has a robust domestic arms industry to ensure its defense requirements against foreign aggression,” Iranian UN mission spokesman Alireza Miryousefi told Newsweek in an interview published on Friday.

The UN restrictions are set to be lifted Sunday under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 which endorses the multilateral nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and major world powers in 2015, Press TV wrote.

The ban’s removal will follow a largely unsuccessful campaign by US President Donald Trump to convince the remaining signatories to defy the nuclear deal and Resolution 2231 and keep the ban on Iran’s arms industry in force.

During the 15-member Security Council vote on August 14, the US received support only from the Dominican Republic for its anti-Iran resolution, leaving it far short of the minimum nine ‘yes’ votes required for adoption.

Trump, a hawkish critic of the JCPOA, unilaterally withdrew Washington from the agreement in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic to strangle its economy in defiance of global criticism.

Following its much-criticized exit, Washington has been attempting to prevent the remaining signatories from abiding by their commitments and thus kill the historic agreement, which is widely viewed as a fruit of international diplomacy.

“In accordance with the timeline stated in Resolution 2231, Iran will be relieved from arms restrictions as early as Oct. 18. Naturally, from that date, we’ll trade, on the basis of our national interests, with other countries in this field,” Miryousefi said.

He added that the lack of support for Washington’s initiatives was telling of its position vis-à-vis the international community.

Miryousefi added, “It is abundantly clear that the UN — and the overwhelming majority of its member states — reject the US’ so-called maximum pressure policy on Iran,” and that “its attempts to even further violate the JCPOA and UNSCR 2231 have led to its isolation.”

Although Iran has not yet formally announced any specific country to start trading arms, Miryousefi said Tehran had options beginning Sunday.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the country will be free to trade weapons as of Sunday.

“We fought with the United States on this issue for four years. America was exerting itself to prevent this day from coming, but that day is coming thanks to our people’s resistance. It is because of the endeavors of our diplomats that the US failed,” Rouhani said.

The Islamic Republic has achieved self-sufficiency in most areas of its defense sector and is itself an exporter of arms. Tehran says it can meet its strategic needs through the countries it interacts with like Russia and China once the UN embargo is lifted.

Russia’s stance

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday that Moscow will consider military technical cooperation with Iran in line with mutual interests after the expiration of the United Nations arms embargo on Tehran.

“We are convinced that all possibilities stemming from the expiration of the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 that are linked with military technical cooperation with Iran will be duly taken into account and used on the basis of mutual benefit and in the interests of the peoples of our two states,” Maria Zakharova said.

All the parties to the talks about Iran’s nuclear program were aware from the very beginning that there is no link between restrictions on weapons supplies to Tehran and the settlement of issues pertaining to its nuclear program, added Zakharova.

She emphasized that the United Nations Security Council did not impose a weapons embargo on Iran in 2015, but the country “voluntarily undertook a number of restrictions.”

“It was done in the interests of the soonest successful outcome of the talks on the JCPOA to settle the situation around the Iranian nuclear program,” the Russian diplomat said.

She noted that the term of the corresponding provisions has expired.

Zakharova stressed that Iran was a “reliable partner” for Russia in many areas of cooperation.

Moscow had earlier said “new opportunities” will emerge in cooperation with Iran the UN embargo expires, and that any agreements with Tehran will have “nothing to do with the unlawful and illegal actions of the US administration, which is trying to intimidate the entire world.”

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said late last month that Moscow and Tehran roundly reject efforts by the US to permanently extend an arms embargo against the Islamic Republic.

Speaking at a joint press conference that followed a meeting with his visiting Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow, Lavrov added, “We stressed that Moscow and Tehran, like the entire international community, categorically reject US ambitions to impose some kind of indefinite arms embargo.”

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“We have great hopes that America will fail,” Rouhani told a televised meeting of his cabinet on Wednesday.

“We have great hopes that America will realize its failure and see its isolation,” the president said.

The ban on selling weapons to Iran is set to be progressively eased from October under the terms of Resolution 2231, which blessed the Iran nuclear deal that world powers agreed in July 2015. But a UN embargo on materials and technology that Iran could use for its ballistic missile program is to remain in place until 2023.

Under the accord officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran is committed to limiting its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The JCPOA has been on life support since the US withdrew from it and reimposed unilateral sanctions in 2018. Iran has since taken small steps away from compliance with the agreement in retaliation for the US withdrawal as it presses for the sanctions relief it was promised.

“But our stance in any case is clear. If such a resolution comes to pass… it means a blatant violation of the JCPOA,” Rouhani said, warning the “consequences will rest with the perpetrators of this act,” Rouhani said.

“Until today, the US has failed politically, and it will fail again. The United States cannot attract and convince the world’s public opinion, and the world now feels that Iran is a law-abiding and moral country that is committed to its obligations,” he said.

‘No legal position’

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the US seeks to “use a Security Council mechanism to destroy” the top body.

The United States has put forward a resolution to extend the embargo but faces opposition from veto-wielding Russia and China.

The three European allies of the United States – Britain, Germany and France, which along with Russia and China, are parties to the JCPOA – have voiced support for extending the conventional arms embargo but their priority is to preserve the nuclear deal.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned of a return of UN sanctions on Iran, using the so-called “snapback mechanism” under the JCPOA if the Security Council fails to extend the embargo.

He has said that Washington “has the unilateral ability to snap back sanctions into place” despite leaving the Iran nuclear deal.

But Zarif rejected Pompeo’s claim, saying the US “has no legal position to use the snapback”.

He said even the three European allies of the United States also explicitly stated at a previous meeting of the UN Security Council that Washington could not use this mechanism.

Zarif called US draft resolution “very illegal” and said it will not be approved.

“If the United States triggers the snapback, it will have no legal value, and any result from this snapback will be deemed worthless and will have no effect,” the top diplomat pointed out.

Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Wednesday that the US “was forced to retreat” from its draft resolution after being “rebuffed by UNSC members” and had to propose a fresh version.

“The new draft is similar – in its NATURE and GOAL – to the previous. Confident that the council will – again – reject this move,” he tweeted.

The original US text effectively called for an indefinite extension of the embargo on Iran and used hawkish rhetoric.

Washington has threatened to use a contested argument that it remains a “participant” in the JCPOA – despite its withdrawal – and if UN sanctions are not extended, it can force their return if it sees Iran as being in violation of the accord’s terms.

AFP and Press TV contributed to this story.

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