GCC calls on UN Security Council to extend Iran’s arms embargo

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Saturday urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to extend an arms embargo on Iran which is due to expire on 18 October.

In a letter, GCC Secretary-General Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf called on the UNSC to extend the embargo and “further impose any additional measures necessary to prevent the destabilising proliferation of Iranian weapons, such as a targeted asset freeze and travel ban on individuals involved in the supply, sale or transfer of arms or related materiel to or from Iran.”

Iran, he added, “has continued to proliferate weapons across the region as an integral part of its expansionist regional policy and longstanding interference in the internal affairs of Arab States, including GCC member states, in clear violation of the UN Charter.”

The arms embargo prevents the movement of conventional weaponry in and out of Iran as part of the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed with the P5+1 states.

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The US said last week that it will submit a resolution at the UN Security Council calling for an extension of the arms embargo on Iran.

“We will ensure the arms embargo is extended,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted, dismissing opposition from China and Russia, both of which have a veto as permanent members of the council. “One way or another we will do the right thing.”