Deputy FM says U.S. push to extend UN arms embargo on Iran will kill JCPOA

  1. Politics
July 28, 2020 - 19:12

TEHRAN - Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand warned on Tuesday that the U.S. efforts to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran would spell the end of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, the Fars news agency reported.

Commenting on the regional tour of U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brain Hook, Baharvand said, “These moves are aimed at destroying the JCPOA and making the region turbulent.”

“The Americans are well aware that Iran is a logical player, and it has never been a security threat to the region’s countries,” he said, calling on the regional countries to avoid being deceived by the U.S.

Hook has visited many countries, including Tunisia, Qatar, and Kuwait, in a bid to muster support for U.S. efforts to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran, which is scheduled to expire in mid-October. Iran has repeatedly said that the extension of the arms embargo would inevitably lead to the death of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In a tweet on May 3, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani wrote: "#JCPOA will die forever by circumventing 2231 Resolution & continuing # Iran's illegal weapons sanctions. Sanctions' virus is the U.S. tool for survival of its declining hegemony. What will #EU do: Save dignity & support multilateralism or Accept humiliation & help unilateralism?”

Baharvand said that the U.S. main goal is to destroy the nuclear deal and stir chaos in the region, adding that “this unreasonable behavior of the U.S. would lead to the failure of all countries in the region and beyond.”

The deputy foreign minister also pointed out that the U.S. has sought to change the talking point regarding Iran, noting that “preventing the expiration of arms restrictions at the [UN] Security Council is not the talking point.”

SKM/PA