President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the United States and other countries should know that Iran will not accept the extension of the United Nations’ arms embargo by any means, as it is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
“It is Iran’s inalienable right to be released of its arms ban soon within the framework of this resolution,” he said in a Cabinet meeting, President.ir reported.
The UN arms embargo on Iran is set to expire in October as per Resolution 2231 that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal, but the US is mounting a campaign to collect votes for its extension, although it has abandoned the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Washington’s move is based on the argument that the US still remains an original “participant” under the terms of the resolution.
It has also threatened to trigger the deal’s so-called “snapback” mechanism to return all UN sanctions on Iran as leverage to get backing from the 15-member UN Security Council for its push.
Rouhani pointed out that US President Donald Trump explicitly announced that he was quitting the deal on May 8, 2018, in a speech and later wrote it down and held it up for reporters’ cameras.
“For the US, JCPOA no longer exists and has been terminated, unless they request [to return] and all [other parties] accept, while they make up for their mistakes and remove all sanctions,” he said.
He added that both the US and other countries that believe this plot is viable should know that “this path is closed to them forever”.
Dire Consequences
The president also said the remaining five signatories of the nuclear deal (France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia) have already been warned about Iran’s response and dire consequences, “if they make such a mistake” to extend the sanction.
The US draft resolution requires nine votes in favor from the UN Security Council members and no vetoes by Russia, China, Britain or France to be adopted.
“This [arms embargo expiration] is an inseparable part of JCPOA and if it is to return under any term or expression and through any mechanism, Iran’s response would be that which I told the 4+1 leaders in the final paragraph of my letter,” Rouhani said.
He was referring to a letter in which he earlier this year warned the remaining parties to the nuclear deal about the consequences of the snapback of UN sanctions on Iran, whose details have been made public.
Rouhani, however, stressed that whether Iran builds or buys weapons, it would be for the purpose of defense.
“Our weapon is not fuel on fire, but water on fire. We put out fires with them and do not allow wars to erupt or tensions to rise,” he said.
