Iran’s defense minister has said the country plans to export arms as soon as sanctions are lifted, following the US failure last week to extend a United Nations arms embargo on Tehran.
Brigadier General Amir Hatami told reporters on Sunday that sanctions were incapable of supporting Iran’s arms industry, promising that the country would “use all capacity in the world to meet its arms requirements, sell and export arms after removal of sanctions, “according to the Mehr News Agency.
Hatami was one of several Iranian officials to blame for the US failure to persuade the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo, which expired in October.
He said Iran’s defense industry was part of its national “strategic depth” and suggested that Tehran was ready to supply its goods to other nations, despite US claims that such sales would destabilize the region.
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But U.S. attempts to extend the embargo – imposed as part of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran’s nuclear deal – failed Friday. Russia and China opposed the extension, while eleven members – including France, Germany and the United Kingdom – abstained.
Only the US and the Dominican Republic voted in favor, calling for an angry condemnation from the administration of President Donald Trump.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said after the vote: “The failure of the Security Council to act decisively in the defense of international peace and security is unattainable. The Security Council has refused immediate appeal to extend the arms embargo from several countries in the Middle East. East is threatened by Iran’s violence, “Pompeo said.
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The US has now threatened to unilaterally trigger an automatic extension to the arms embargo under the terms of the JCPOA. But Iran and the other signatories have argued that the US cannot do so because Trump withdrew the US from the 2018 deal. As a non-member, they argue, the US has no legal right to trigger the snapback.
However, Trump told reporters Saturday: “We’ll do a snapback … You’ll be watching the new week.” U.S. officials have argued that they can pull off the snapback because of the Security Council resolution that anchored the JCPOA, citing Washington, DC as a participant.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Monday that the Trump administration “has no leg to stand on” for a potential snapback. Zarif quoted comments from former National Security Adviser John Bolton in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Monday, in which Bolton said the attempted snapback “is not worth the risk.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a video summit with the US and the remaining JCPOA signatories – Russia, China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Iran – to prevent further “confrontation and escalation”.
Asked if he would run for office, Trump told reporters: “I hear there is something, but I have not been told yet.”
Since his dismissal from the JCPOA, Trump has launched a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, hoping to force its leaders to vote for a more restrictive replacement deal. Tehran has returned efforts several times.
ORLANDO BARRIA / POOL / AFP via Getty Images / Getty
