US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that the United States is adhering to its attempt to extend the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations on Iran, as the UN Security Council votes on the draft resolution it drafted. United State.
"We will do everything we can within the framework of our diplomatic tool to ensure that the arms embargo does not end," Pompeo told a news conference in the Austrian capital Vienna.
"We cannot allow the world´s largest state sponsor of terrorism to buy and sell weapons. I mean, this is just madness," he said.
The arms embargo imposed on Iran expires in October under a provision of United Nations Resolution 2231, a resolution in which the Security Council endorsed the nuclear deal concluded between Tehran and the six world powers in Vienna in 2015.
The results of the council vote on the text prepared by the United States are expected to be known, and it seeks to extend the restrictions indefinitely, later on Friday.
Diplomats expect that the text will not be approved due to opposition from Russia and China, which have the right to "veto" and the presence of resistance from the European Union.
If the resolution is rejected, Washington threatens to activate the "quick return" mechanism in the nuclear deal to reimpose all UN sanctions on Iran.
Such a move could lead to the cancellation of the Vienna Agreement, which was aimed at preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
President Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the Vienna Agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018
But Pompeo said that was not Washington´s current focus.
He said, "This is not related to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but rather about whether the world will proceed with allowing Iran to buy and sell weapons systems."
