MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2020) Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that the arms embargo against his country would be lifted automatically, and no third-party resolution was required.
In late June, the United States introduced a draft resolution at the UN Security Council to extend the United Nations arms embargo on Iran before it expires in mid-October. Russia and China have already voiced their opposition to the draft resolution. Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said earlier in the day that if the United States continued the arms embargo against Iran, it would mean the death of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"First of all, the Europeans don't need to lift the embargo, it will be removed automatically. We knew that we could not rely on anybody to do this, so these are automatic steps, they don't need a resolution," Zarif said during a virtual discussion in the framework of the Mediterranean Dialogues forum when asked to comment on US efforts to push Europe no not lift the arms embargo expiring this fall.
According to the top Iranian diplomat, neither the United States nor the EU can decide whether the embargo will be lifted.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the United States does not want a short extension of the UN arms embargo on Iran.
In 2015, Iran signed the nuclear agreement with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and the European Union. The JCPOA stipulates that Iran must scale back its nuclear program and downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including the lifting of the UN arms embargo five years after the accord was adopted. However, the US unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018, prompting criticism on the part of the remaining signatories.
