UN arms embargoes on Iran expire despite US objections
A decade-long U.N. arms embargo on Iran that barred it from purchasing foreign weapons like tanks and fighter jets expired Sunday as planned under its nuclear manage world powers, despite objections from the United States, which insists the ban remains set up, reports AP.
While Iran says it plans no “buying spree,” it can now in theory purchase weapons to upgrade military armaments dating back to before its 1979 Islamic Revolution and sell its own locally produced gear abroad.
In practice, however, Iran’s economy remains crippled by broad-reaching U.S. sanctions, and other nations may avoid arms handles Tehran for concern with American financial retaliation. The Trump administration has warned that any sales of weapons to Iran or exports from Iran will be penalized.
The Islamic Republic heralded the end of the arms embargo as “a momentous day for the international community ... in defiance of the U.S. regime’s effort.” The Trump administration, meanwhile, says the expiration is moot because it reimposed all U.N. sanctions on Iran, like the arms embargo, with a clause in the nuclear deal Trump withdrew from in 2018, a claim ignored by all of those other world.
“Today’s normalization of Iran’s defense cooperation with the world is a win for the reason for multilateralism and peace and security inside our region,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flatly rejected the expiration.
“AMERICA is ready to use its domestic authorities to sanction anybody or entity that materially contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer of conventional arms to or from Iran, together with those WHO provide technical training, financial support and services, and other assistance linked to these arms,” he said in a statement.
“For the past 10 years, countries have refrained from selling weapons to Iran under various U.N. measures,” Pompeo said. “Any country that now challenges this prohibition will be very clearly choosing to fuel conflict and tension over promoting peace and security.”
Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, taken care of immediately Pompeo with a tweet urging the U.S. to greatly help Middle East peace by not provoking Iran. “And please change words ‘sanctions’ and ‘punishment’ in your vocabulary to ‘dialogue’ and ‘engagement’. That could help a lot! Make the US respected again!”, he added.
Sunday’s expiration of the arms embargo was, in fact, the proximate cause for the U.S. decision last month to move forward with the so-called “snapback” of international sanctions in Iran. The Americans tried unsuccessfully to achieve the U.N. Security Council to increase the embargo but suffered a humiliating defeat when only 1 country on the 15-member panel supported it.
In response, the administration announced that it had invoked “snapback” - a mechanism provided for in the Security Council resolution that enshrined the nuclear deal which allows any participant in the accord to revive U.N. sanctions if indeed they determine Iran isn't complying with its terms. The rest of the council, however, rejected U.S. standing to trigger snapback, saying it had lost its to do so when Trump pulled out of the deal.
The United Nations banned Iran from buying major foreign weapon systems in 2010 2010 amid tensions over its nuclear program. An earlier embargo targeted Iranian arms exports.
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency predicted in 2019 that if the embargo ended, Iran likely would try to get Russian Su-30 fighter jets, Yak-130 trainer aircraft, and T-90 tanks. Tehran also may make an effort to buy Russia’s S-400 anti-aircraft missile system and its Bastian coastal defense missile system, the DIA said. China also could sell Iran's arms.
Iran long has been outmatched by U.S.-backed Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, that have purchased billions of dollars of advanced American weaponry. In response, Tehran turned toward developing locally made ballistic missiles.
Iran has blasted Gulf Arab purchases of U.S.-made defense equipment as “regrettably lucrative weapon deals” with some of those arms found in the ongoing war in Yemen. That conflict pits a Saudi-led coalition backing the country’s internationally recognized government against rebel forces backed by Iran.
The U.N. arms embargoes, however, did not stop Iran from sending weapons which range from assault rifles to ballistic missiles to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. While Tehran denies arming the Houthis, Western governments and weapons specialists repeatedly have linked Iranian arms to the rebels.
