PARIS (Dispatches) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Tuesday that Washington would prevent Iran from purchasing "Chinese tanks and Russian air defense systems” as the end to a UN arms embargo against Tehran approaches.
While the European Union and United Nations disagreed with the U.S. decision to withdraw from an international nuclear deal in 2018 and reimpose unilateral sanctions on Iran, Washington was acting to "keep the world safe,” the hawkish diplomat claimed.
"We are going to act in a way – and we have acted in a way – that will prevent Iran from being able to purchase Chinese tanks and Russian air defense systems and resell weapons to Hezbollah to undermine the very efforts that (French) President Macron is ably trying to lead in Lebanon,” Pompeo said.
Hezbollah, a popular resistance movement established to protect Lebanon against Israeli aggression and occupation, has long been targeted by U.S. sanctions.
But it is also a powerful political player with seats in parliament in Lebanon, where the French president is seeking to foster political changes to facilitate Western intervention and influence in the country.
The United States faces widespread opposition in a new bid to reimpose sanctions on Iran, which has been progressively stepping up its nuclear activities since Washington pulled out of the deal in 2018.
It also wants to extend the UN arms embargo on the country expiring on October 18.
The United States, he insisted, would "continue to defend the international order to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from returning to its malign activity” in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.
While the U.S. is widely believed to be aiding extremist groups in the Middle East with the ultimate aim of protecting the Zionist regime, Iran has famously assisted the countries to defeat takfiri terrorists in Iraq and Syria and drive out Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.