Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday slammed the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretary-general, Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf, over a letter sent to the United Nations Security Council demanding that an arms embargo on Iran be extended
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2020) Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday slammed the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretary-general, Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf, over a letter sent to the United Nations Security Council demanding that an arms embargo on Iran be extended.
Al-Hajraf reportedly sent the letter, in which he accused Iran of supporting terrorist organizations, to the Security Council on Sunday. In a later interview with the Al Jazeera broadcaster, senior Qatari Foreign Ministry official, Mutlaq Al-Qahtani, said that the secretary-general's position did not reflect the opinions of all the GCC's member states, adding that Doha does not see the current sanctions on Tehran as helpful. The United States has long sought to extend the Iran arms embargo.
"US is so desperate to show support for its struggle to illegally extend arms restrictions on Iran that it clings to the personal position of GCC SG obtained thru coercion as regional consensus. All knew that most in the region even in GCC do NOT subscribe to this," Zarif wrote on Twitter.
The GCC's member states are Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
US Envoy to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, told the Fox News broadcaster on Wednesday that Washington has submitted a new version of a draft resolution to the UN Security Council, which requests an indefinite ban on the sale of arms to Iran beyond the October 18 deadline.
A UN arms embargo on Iran has been in force since 2007.
