Iran: GCC Call for Extending Arms Ban ‘Unrealistic’
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran has rejected as "unrealistic” a call by the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the United Nations to extend an arms embargo on Tehran that ends in October.
The GCC, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, claimed on Sunday that Iran’s alleged interference in neighboring countries made an extension necessary.
The arms embargo is currently set to end on Oct. 18 as part of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which the United States quit in 2018.
"The GCC is currently at the apex of its incompetence and its unrealistic policies have rendered it ineffective,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
"The council, swayed by the wrong and destructive policies and behavior of certain member states, has turned into a mouthpiece for anti-Iran elements inside and outside the region.”
U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the United Nations Security Council will vote this week on a U.S. bid to extend the arms embargo on Iran, despite warnings by some diplomats that the measure lacks support.
If the United States is unsuccessful in extending the embargo, it has threatened to trigger a return of all UN sanctions on Iran under a process agreed in the 2015 deal.
In May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened a "crushing response” if the embargo on Iranian trade of conventional arms were extended.
On Sunday, Mousavi expressed regret over the destructive approach adopted by certain GCC members, saying the grouping seems to have turned into a mouthpiece for some "narrow-minded people” both inside the council and outside the region.
"The council’s secretariat, swayed by the wrong and destructive
The GCC, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, claimed on Sunday that Iran’s alleged interference in neighboring countries made an extension necessary.
The arms embargo is currently set to end on Oct. 18 as part of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which the United States quit in 2018.
"The GCC is currently at the apex of its incompetence and its unrealistic policies have rendered it ineffective,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
"The council, swayed by the wrong and destructive policies and behavior of certain member states, has turned into a mouthpiece for anti-Iran elements inside and outside the region.”
U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the United Nations Security Council will vote this week on a U.S. bid to extend the arms embargo on Iran, despite warnings by some diplomats that the measure lacks support.
If the United States is unsuccessful in extending the embargo, it has threatened to trigger a return of all UN sanctions on Iran under a process agreed in the 2015 deal.
In May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened a "crushing response” if the embargo on Iranian trade of conventional arms were extended.
On Sunday, Mousavi expressed regret over the destructive approach adopted by certain GCC members, saying the grouping seems to have turned into a mouthpiece for some "narrow-minded people” both inside the council and outside the region.
"The council’s secretariat, swayed by the wrong and destructive
policies and behavior of certain member states, has turned into a mouthpiece for anti-Iran elements,” the spokesman said.
A statement from GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Mubarak al-Hajraf had said, "It is inappropriate to lift restrictions on the supply of weapons from and to Iran.”
In his Sunday comments, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman described the secretary general’s remarks as "irresponsible ones dictated and issued unilaterally at a time when some members of the council have not stopped purchasing and stockpiling weapons even at a time of economic problems, and are among the biggest buyers of arms in the region and in the world.”
The spokesman said the United States’ interests are undoubtedly contingent upon further sales of weapons to these countries with such approaches and empty claims.
"The killing of defenseless people and children in Yemen is a textbook example of wrong policies adopted by certain GCC members, which have resulted in Yemeni people being killed every day before the eyes of the world by different Western weapons by leaders of this very council,” Mousavi went on to say.
A statement from GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Mubarak al-Hajraf had said, "It is inappropriate to lift restrictions on the supply of weapons from and to Iran.”
In his Sunday comments, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman described the secretary general’s remarks as "irresponsible ones dictated and issued unilaterally at a time when some members of the council have not stopped purchasing and stockpiling weapons even at a time of economic problems, and are among the biggest buyers of arms in the region and in the world.”
The spokesman said the United States’ interests are undoubtedly contingent upon further sales of weapons to these countries with such approaches and empty claims.
"The killing of defenseless people and children in Yemen is a textbook example of wrong policies adopted by certain GCC members, which have resulted in Yemeni people being killed every day before the eyes of the world by different Western weapons by leaders of this very council,” Mousavi went on to say.