Iran Arms Embargo Archives - Iran News Daily

IRGC General Says Iran Ready to Export Arms

reporter 1222 — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 13:51:29 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh voiced Iran’s readiness to export arms as soon as a UN embargo is terminated next month.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Hajizadeh said the export of Iranian military equipment would be facilitated after the termination of the arms embargo.

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s arms program is not going to change at all, the commander added, saying Iran has already become self-sufficient in the military industry.

“We do not rely on foreigners to supply our demand for arms,” he underlined.

The general said termination of the UN arms embargo in October will have several advantages, as it marks a political victory for Iran and would allow the export of arms.

He further dismissed the US president’s threat of military action against Iran, saying Trump has already made such nonsense comments which have been proved wrong, such as his previous threat to hit 52 locations in Iran.

The US suffered an embarrassing diplomatic defeat in August when the United Nations Security Council rejected a proposal to indefinitely extend the arms embargo on Iran.

The embargo on conventional arms is due to expire on October 18 under the terms of a resolution that blessed the Iran nuclear deal, signed in July 2015 and officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

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Iran FM: Limits on Arms Trade to Be Lifted by the End of October

reporter 1222 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 03:52:58 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the limits on arms trade with Iran will be lifted by the end of October, reiterating that Iran has not been under arms embargo; but rather it faced restrictions for buying arms.

He made the remarks in a televised program late on Saturday while commenting on the US unilateral efforts to reinstate Washington’s sanctions against Iran, IRNA reported.

It is clear is that all members of the Security Council, except the US and one other country, have officially declared that they do not recognize the US move.

France, Britain and Germany, known as E3, told the UN Security Council on Friday that UN sanctions relief for Iran – agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal – would continue beyond September 20, when the United States asserts that all the measures should be reimposed.

In a letter to the 15-member body, the three European parties to the nuclear deal and long-time US allies said any decision or action taken to reimpose UN sanctions “would be incapable of legal effect and so cannot bring into effect the procedure”, Reuters reported.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov welcomed the European statement, calling it “absolutely correct”.

“This goes without saying because US attempt to trigger snapback is null and void from legal and procedural viewpoints. There is practically consensus on this issue in the international community,” Ulyanov tweeted on Saturday.

US president plans to reinstate all United Nations sanctions against Iran as of Saturday night and has vowed to enforce them despite the fact that the vast majority of the Security Council has rejected US’ authority to reimpose the sanctions.

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Iran: US Suffered Defeat After Bid for Arms Embargo Extension Rejected

reporter 1222 — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 03:59:13 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that the United States had suffered a humiliating defeat in its bid to get a UN arms embargo on Iran extended indefinitely.

“I don’t remember the United States preparing a resolution for months to strike a blow at the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it garners only one vote!,” Rouhani said in a televised speech.

“But the great success was that the United States was defeated in this conspiracy with humiliation.”

The UN Security Council on Friday resoundingly defeated the US resolution, leaving it far short of the minimum nine “yes” votes required for adoption. Eleven members abstained, including France, Germany, and Britain, while the US and the Dominican Republic were the only yes votes. China strongly opposed the resolution but didn’t need to use their vetoes.

The embargo on conventional arms sales to Iran is due to expire on October 18 under the terms of a resolution that blessed the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran’s Foreign Ministry also on Saturday hailed the UN Security Council vote, saying the US has “never been so isolated”.

“In the 75 years of United Nations history, America has never been so isolated,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi tweeted.

“Despite all the trips, pressure, and the hawking, the United States could only mobilize a small country (to vote) with them,” he added, in reference to failed efforts by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to rally support for a US resolution.

“Last night, Iran’s active #diplomacy, along with the legal force of (the nuclear deal), defeated the United States again at the Security Council,” Mousavi tweeted.

The US text effectively called for an indefinite extension of the embargo on Iran, which diplomats said would threaten the nuclear agreement.

Iran says it has the right to self-defense and that a continuation of the ban would mean an end to the nuclear deal.

The United States has threatened to trigger a return of all UN sanctions on Iran using a provision in the nuclear deal, known as snapback, even though US President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the accord in 2018. Diplomats have said the United States would do this as early as next week but would face a tough, messy battle.

Experts have said such a move would threaten to plunge the council into one of its worst-ever diplomatic crises and put the fragile nuclear deal further at risk.

Under the deal, negotiated by then US president Barack Obama, Iran committed to curtailing its nuclear activities for sanctions relief and other benefits. Since Trump pulled out and imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran under a campaign of “maximum pressure,” Tehran has taken small steps away from compliance with the nuclear accord in retaliation for the US withdrawal as it presses for sanctions relief.

China: Bullying will fail

China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said in a statement after the vote that the result “once again shows that unilateralism receives no support and bullying will fail.”

Zhang reiterated the Chinese contention that since the US is no longer party to the 2015 agreement, it is “ineligible to demand the Security Council invoke a snapback.” He said the overwhelming majority of council members “believe the US attempt has no legal basis.”

“Should the US insist regardless of international opinion, it is doomed to fail like today,” Zhang said.

Germany’s Deputy UN Ambassador, Gunter Sautter, said after the vote that his country remains committed to the nuclear deal.

He said Germany has been engaging with council members and is ready to continue discussions “in order to find a pragmatic way forward”, that is acceptable to all council members.

‘No to unilateralism’

Iran’s UN Ambassador Majid Takht-Ravanchi warned the United States against trying to trigger a return of sanctions.

“Imposition of any sanctions or restrictions on Iran by the Security Council will be met severely by Iran and our options are not limited. And the United States and any entity which may assist it or acquiesce in its illegal behavior will bear the full responsibility,” he said in a statement.

Takht-Ravanchi said the US is seeking to use the arms embargo “as a pretext of killing the JCPOA forever through the snapback mechanism.”

He also took to Twitter to say the UNSC vote against the US proposal has a clear “message: No to UNILATERALISM.”

“The result of the vote in #UNSC on arms embargo against Iran shows – once more – the US’ isolation,” he tweeted.

“US must learn from this debacle. Its attempt to “snapback” sanctions is illegal, and was rejected by int’l community, as was evident today.”

‘Urgent’ issue

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proposed a video summit with the United States and the remaining parties to the nuclear deal – Britain, France, China, Germany, and Iran – to try to avoid further “confrontation and escalation of the situation in the Security Council.”

“The issue is urgent,” Putin said in a statement, adding that the alternative was “only further escalation of tensions, increasing risk of conflict – such a scenario must be avoided.”

“If the leaders are fundamentally ready for a conversation, we propose to promptly coordinate the agenda,” Putin said.

Putin said Russia remained fully committed to the nuclear deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office confirmed France’s “availability in principle” to Putin’s proposal. “We have in the past deployed initiatives in the same spirit,” it said.

Asked if he would take part, Trump told reporters, “I hear there’s something, but I haven’t been told of it yet.”

Trump, who has walked away from a series of international agreements, has dubbed the JCPOA “the worst deal ever.”

The United States has argued that it can trigger a sanctions snapback because of a UN Security Council resolution enshrining the nuclear deal named Washington as a participant. But the remaining parties to the deal are opposed to the move.

Diplomats have said several countries would argue that the United States legally could not activate a return of sanctions and therefore simply would not reimpose the measures on Iran themselves.

Reuters, AFP, and AP contributed to this story.

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Rouhani Urges to End Iran Arms Embargo to Reach Multilateralism

reporter 1222 — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 08:05:27 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal to safeguard one of the main achievements of the JCPOA by terminating the UN arms embargo on Iran, warning that obedience to the US would deal a severe blow to multilateralism.

Speaking at a cabinet session on Wednesday, Rouhani said the Group 4+1 is faced with a test in the coming weeks, which is saving achievement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by terminating the arms embargo on Iran.

“The Group 4+1 must realize that today, it is not only a matter of Iran’s interests or Iran’s relations with them or Iran’s relations with regional countries. What matters today is the issue of saving international law, the issue of multilateralism, and the issue of the value of international agreements.”

The president also warned the parties to the JCPOA that careless moves and being influenced by the US would deal a major blow to international laws and regulations as well as multilateralism. “This would be to the detriment of all parties.”

He further underlined that nobody could blame Iran, because the Islamic Republic has complied with the international law criteria and international norms.

“The violation (of the JCPOA) committed by the others does not mean that Iran is to blame,” the president said.

Rouhani also emphasized that Iran has not and will not become isolated, contrary to the US objectives.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France, and Germany) on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the nuclear deal.

The JCPOA took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation was hampered by the US policies and its eventual withdrawal from the deal.

On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear accord.

Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.

However, the EU’s failure to ensure Iran’s economic interests forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments under the JCPOA.

Iran has reduced its commitments to the nuclear deal in five steps but has made it clear that it would immediately return to the JCPOA if the other parties fulfill their commitments.

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US Bid to Extend Iran Embargo Jeopardizes JCPOA; Russia Says

reporter 1222 — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 05:43:39 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Russia has warned that the United States’ controversial bid to extend an arms embargo on Iran that is expected to expire under the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal jeopardizes the prospect of the agreement’s continued preservation.

Speaking on Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the US push was “not only unjustified but also counterproductive in terms of the prospects of preserving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),” Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported.

She was referring by official name to the landmark deal that was reached between Iran and the US, Britain, France, Russia, and China plus Germany in 2015 in Vienna, Press TV repoted.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the JCPOA and later re-imposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran on the back of the deal. The US’s intransigence flew in the face of the fact that the deal has been ratified by the United Nations Security Council 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 sales of conventional weapons to the Islamic Republic that will expire under the JCPOA in October.

To try and rationalize its bid, the US says it is still “named” as a JCPOA partner in the resolution. Tehran and other JCPOA partners say Washington, due to its unilateral withdrawal, has forfeited all rights to have any say in the agreement.

The US recently tabled a draft resolution at the UNSC on extension of the arms embargo, with American Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft saying Washington will push the Council to vote on the draft as early as mid-July.

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

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

“The international community in general, and the United Nations Security Council, in particular, are facing an important decision,” he said. “Do we maintain respect for the rule of law or do we return to the law of the jungle by surrendering to the whims of an outlaw bully?” the top diplomat asked.

Russia and China’s UN envoys also berated Washington, the former, Vasily Nebenzia, warning about an “uncontrollable escalation” as the United States kept up the push, and the latter, Zhang Jun, underlining that “having quit the JCPOA, the US is no longer a participant and has no right to trigger a snapback at the Security Council.”

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Envoy: Extending Iran Arms Embargo Breaches UNSC Resolution

reporter 1222 — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 06:05:59 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said any US attempt to extend an arms embargo against Iran would run counter to the UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

In an interview with IRNA on Wednesday, Majid Takht Ravanchi slammed the US’ claim about being still a participant of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as an unprecedented historical joke.

With its unilateral exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) two years ago, the United States violated its commitments under the 2015 multilateral accord and a subsequent UNSC Resolution 2231 as well, the ambassador said.

The US is now planning to extend an arms embargo which was unfairly imposed on Iran and is due to be lifted in October under the terms of the UNSC Resolution 2231, he said.

The ambassador added that the US is reportedly seeking to do so by passing another resolution, which he said will be in violation of the UNSCR 2231.

The US itself is a violator of a UN resolution, Takht Ravanchi said, adding, “It is unprecedented in the history of the United Nations that a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which has passed a resolution, violates the resolution itself, and also encourages other countries to violate it.”

Top US officials announced Washington’s withdrawal from the JCPOA two years ago and now they are seeking to become a party to the deal which would be rejected by the international community, the ambassador stated.

The US is just seeking to re-impose sanctions on Tehran, he said.

The US’ acts contravene the international law and are rejected both politically and by the international community, Takht Ravanchi said, stressing that those attempts will go nowhere.

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