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Pompeo Hopeful The 'Whole World' Will Back Extension Of Iran Arms Embargo

June 24, 2020

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he is "hopeful" that the "whole world" will understand the need to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran beyond October, when it is set to be progressively eased under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

"I think all but a couple of nations understand that this should not expire and there is going to be a discussion about how it is that we extend it," Pompeo told reporters in Washington on June 24.

The five-year ban on selling conventional arms to Iran was established in conjunction with the nuclear agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The United States pulled out of the accord in May 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions that have battered the Iranian economy.

Tehran has been progressively breaking the restrictions laid down in the agreement, saying that it can reverse them if the remaining parties to the deal -- Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia -- comply with it. U.S. sanctions make it difficult for other parties to abide by their commitments.

Washington has also put forward a resolution in the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo, but the proposal faces opposition there from veto-wielding powers Russia and China -- both countries, experts say, that would likely win arms contract with Tehran if the embargo ends.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France, and Germany last week announced they too opposed lifting the ban, but they also said their countries would not back U.S. efforts to unilaterally trigger the reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran.

Pompeo also told reporters on June 24 that the United States is willing to enter talks with Tehran when the time is right.

In a televised speech on June 24, Iranian President Hassan Rohani said that Tehran has "no problem with talks with the U.S., but only if Washington fulfils its obligations under the nuclear deal and apologizes and compensates Tehran for its withdrawal" from the pact.

"But we know these calls for talks with Tehran are just words and lies," Rohani added.

In other comments, Rohani warned the UN atomic agency to expect a "stern response" after the agency demanded Iran provide access to two sites where nuclear activity may have occurred in the past.

Iran has been blocking access to the two sites for months, and the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week adopted a resolution calling on Iran to "fully cooperate" with the agency and "satisfy the Agency's requests without any further delay."

Russia and China voted against the resolution.

The sites in question are not thought to be directly relevant to Iran's current nuclear program since activities there are believed to have been from the early 2000s, before Iran signed the nuclear deal.

But the IAEA says it needs to know if activities going back almost two decades have been properly declared and whether all nuclear materials have been accounted for.

Iran maintains the IAEA has no legal basis to inspect the sites.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pompeo-hopeful-the -whole-world-will-back-extension-of-iran -arms-embargo/30688949.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.