Pompeo: Arabs, Israelis Speaking with One Voice on Iran Arms Embargo
Arab Gulf states and Israel agree extending a U.N. arms embargo against Iran is of critical importance, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, after announcing his country’s intention to introduce a resolution at the Security Council.
“Countries in the Middle East from the Gulf to Israel support extending the arms embargo,” Pompeo tweeted Sunday. “It is deeply important to every one of them. Arabs and Israelis are speaking with one voice and the Security Council must listen.”
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), comprising of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar, over the weekend sent a letter to the Security Council urging the current embargo be extended after its October 15 expiration date.
“The GCC Secretary-General pointed out that Iran has continued to proliferate conventional weapons and arm terrorist and sectarian organizations and movements throughout the region,” the letter signed by GCC Secretary-General Nayef Al-Hajra stated.
Tehran “has not desisted from armed interventions in neighboring countries, directly and through organizations and movements armed and trained by Iran,” the letter went on.
“As such, it is inappropriate to lift the restrictions on conventional weapons’ movement to and from Iran until it abandons its destabilizing activities in the region and ceases to provide weapons to terrorist and sectarian organizations.”
The embargo is “imperative to ensure and preserve peace and stability in this region,” the GCC concluded.
Pompeo applauded the GCC’s “bold statement” and announced the U.S.’ intention to introduce a U.N. resolution this week to call for the embargo extension “after years of diplomacy.”
“The council must choose between arming terrorists or standing by the Gulf,” Pompeo declared.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Kelly Craft, retweeted the GCC statement and wrote: “these countries’ voices must be heard as Iran continues to proliferate conventional weapons and arm terrorists. Common sense must prevail.”
Craft last week revealed that China and Russia had threatened to veto such a resolution.“The strategy in a perfect world would always be to have them abstain and not veto,” she said at the Aspen Institute Security Forum.“However, let’s be realistic here. Right now, the strategy is working with the other members of the Security Council and making certain that we really just, as we did in Syria, put them in a corner and shine the light on them – because this is a choice between tyranny or freedom. And we will allow the world to see the choice that China and Russia will make,” Craft said.
Photo: ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
