US Set to Extend Iran Embargo Without UN Consent

The United States announced Wednesday it will unilaterally extend the United Nations arms embargo on Iran, set to expire in October, and will hold to account anyone engaging in weapons trading with Tehran, even if such activity occurs after the embargo’s termination date agreed on in the 2015 nuclear deal. US Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran Elliott Abrams warned that Washington will impose sanctions on those dealing arms to Tehran despite the fact that the UN and the other countries party to the 2015 deal rejected the US’s recent bids to extend the embargo. According to Abrams, the US also considers all sanctions that were lifted in 2015 to be reimposed as of this weekend. Last month Washington explained that because of Iran’s repeated violations of its commitments not to develop nuclear capabilities, it had triggered the sanctions’ “snapback” clause of the deal, despite the fact the US quit the pact in 2018 and is no longer a side to it. Other parties to the nuclear deal, including Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, have intimated they will not accept the reimposition of UN sanctions by the US.