Iran’s UN ambassador says Security Council must reject U.S. bullying

United Nations, August 10 (RHC)-- Iran’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations says the world body’s Security Council must resist bullying efforts by the United States that aims to extend an arms embargo on the Islamic Republic.

Majid Takht Ravanchi made the remarks in a Monday tweet as the UN Security Council gets ready to discuss a Washington-drafted resolution, which aims to extend the UN arms embargo against Iran. The embargo is set to expire this October under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Ahead of this week’s Security Council meeting, UN diplomats have emphasized that opposition to the US-drafted resolution is so widespread that Washington is unlikely to secure the nine votes required at the 15-member Security Council to force Russia and China to use their vetoes.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is set for a showdown over a U.S. draft resolution to extend an Iranian arms embargo, with the motion lacking the minimum votes in favor to trigger any vetoes.

Iran’s envoy noted that in order to advance its resolution through the council, “...the U.S. is actively resorting to Iran-phobia & coercion to gain support for its unlawful anti-2231 resolution, illegally seeking to extend an arms embargo on Iran.”

He also advised the Security Council that it “must reject bullying & unilateralism—again—as it did when US first introduced its draft.”  "At the #UNSC, the US is actively resorting to Iran-phobia & coercion to gain support for its unlawful anti-2231 resolution, illegally seeking to extend an arms embargo on Iran," read part of the tweet.

"The Council must reject bullying & unilateralism—again—as it did when US first introduced its draft," it added.

Takht Ravanchi's tweet comes amid U.S. efforts to exert pressure on the Security Council to extend the arms embargo against Iran as part of Washington’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran in violation of the international nuclear deal and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorses the accord.

Under the JCPOA, the restrictions imposed on Iran's purchase and sale of arms should be lifted in October.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi last month warned it will take "effective measures" if European countries cave in to the US pressure aimed at extending an arms embargo on Tehran.

"We have warned the European countries that if they give in to the US political and diplomatic pressures and trigger the restrictions, Iran has envisaged effective measures [to take in kind], but we hope that things would not end up like that," the Iranian spokesperson added.

Iran has firmly rejected Washington’s plans, arguing the US is no longer a party to the JCPOA ever since it withdrew from the multilateral agreement in 2018.

China and Russia, which are both signatories to the JCPOA, have also expressed their opposition to the US plans.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency on Thursday that China was against the United States’ illegal underway bid to prevent removal of the anti-Iran arms embargo.

“We don’t agree with the US in pushing for the extension of the arms embargo against Iran in the Security Council,” he said.

Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov has also taken the United States to task for making increasing efforts to extend the arms embargo on Iran while it is itself selling huge amounts of weapons to countries in West Asia, thus destabilizing the region.

A senior Russian diplomat says the US seeks to extend an arms embargo on Iran while selling enormous weapons to the Middle East.  "The #US attempts to make arms #embargo against #Iran indefinite and comprehensive look extremely questionable in the light of US enormous arms supplies to the region," he tweeted.