Bloomberg on U.S. Bid to Extend Arms Ban
LONDON (kayhan Intl.) -- The Trump administration is escalating tensions with allies as it seeks to renew a UN arms embargo on Iran that’s set to expire this year, threatening to kill what’s left of the nuclear agreement the U.S. quit two years ago if countries don’t go along.
Officials including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo are warning that the U.S. could try to force a "snapback” of sanctions against Tehran by all United Nations Security Council members as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord if the arms embargo is allowed to expire in October.
"We are operating under the assumption that we will be able to renew the arms embargo,” Brian Hook, U.S. Special Representative for Iran, told reporters last week. If council members don’t go along, he warned, "we are well within our rights” to snap back all UN sanctions.
That’s not an interpretation many countries agree with.
While not wanting to feud publicly with the U.S., European diplomats speaking on condition that they not be identified say the U.S. forfeited any such right when President Donald Trump decided to end "U.S. participation” in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
According to the American news provider, renewing the arms embargo won’t be easy.
"Russia has repeatedly indicated it will oppose an extension, and China isn’t likely to go along with the U.S. proposal either. Both have veto power on the Security Council,” it said.
Allies and adversaries see U.S. officials as trying to have it both ways: stay out of the deal they disagree with except when they need some of its provisions to press allies to exit it too.
The administration calculates that the deal’s collapse would increase pressure for Iran, which has resumed building a stockpile of fissile material, to agree to a more wide-ranging accord that doesn’t have "sunsets,” or clauses that expire over time, Bloomberg said.
With Iran already under a raft of U.S. sanctions that limit the ability of other nations to trade with it, the impact of a snapback would be largely symbolic. But the political impact of effectively killing off the 2015 accord would be potent, it added.
While European officials have kept quiet publicly, Iran has lashed out at U.S. threats.
"2 yrs ago, @SecPompeo and his boss declared ‘CEASING U.S. participation’ in JCPOA, dreaming that their ‘max pressure’ would bring Iran to its knees,” Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif tweeted. "Given that policy’s abject failure, he now wants to be JCPOA participant. Stop dreaming: Iranian Nation always decides its destiny.”
The embargo’s end would theoretically allow Iran to move ahead with purchases of conventional weapons from Russia and China. That could let Iran modernize its forces by buying advanced weapons systems that it has mostly been unable to acquire for decades, including advanced fighter aircraft and main battle tanks, the Pentagon warned in November.
The issue is a top political priority for Trump, with the October expiration coming just weeks before presidential elections in the U.S. Hawkish advisers to the Trump administration think the U.S. shouldn’t even waste time with a UN resolution, going straight to the snapback option instead.
"We are operating under the assumption that we will be able to renew the arms embargo,” Brian Hook, U.S. Special Representative for Iran, told reporters last week. If council members don’t go along, he warned, "we are well within our rights” to snap back all UN sanctions.
That’s not an interpretation many countries agree with.
While not wanting to feud publicly with the U.S., European diplomats speaking on condition that they not be identified say the U.S. forfeited any such right when President Donald Trump decided to end "U.S. participation” in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
According to the American news provider, renewing the arms embargo won’t be easy.
"Russia has repeatedly indicated it will oppose an extension, and China isn’t likely to go along with the U.S. proposal either. Both have veto power on the Security Council,” it said.
Allies and adversaries see U.S. officials as trying to have it both ways: stay out of the deal they disagree with except when they need some of its provisions to press allies to exit it too.
The administration calculates that the deal’s collapse would increase pressure for Iran, which has resumed building a stockpile of fissile material, to agree to a more wide-ranging accord that doesn’t have "sunsets,” or clauses that expire over time, Bloomberg said.
With Iran already under a raft of U.S. sanctions that limit the ability of other nations to trade with it, the impact of a snapback would be largely symbolic. But the political impact of effectively killing off the 2015 accord would be potent, it added.
While European officials have kept quiet publicly, Iran has lashed out at U.S. threats.
"2 yrs ago, @SecPompeo and his boss declared ‘CEASING U.S. participation’ in JCPOA, dreaming that their ‘max pressure’ would bring Iran to its knees,” Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif tweeted. "Given that policy’s abject failure, he now wants to be JCPOA participant. Stop dreaming: Iranian Nation always decides its destiny.”
The embargo’s end would theoretically allow Iran to move ahead with purchases of conventional weapons from Russia and China. That could let Iran modernize its forces by buying advanced weapons systems that it has mostly been unable to acquire for decades, including advanced fighter aircraft and main battle tanks, the Pentagon warned in November.
The issue is a top political priority for Trump, with the October expiration coming just weeks before presidential elections in the U.S. Hawkish advisers to the Trump administration think the U.S. shouldn’t even waste time with a UN resolution, going straight to the snapback option instead.
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