UN Security Council rejects US draft resolution to extend arms embargo on Iran

16 August 2020 12:34 (UTC+04:00)

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UN Security Council on Friday rejected the US draft resolution to extend arms embargo on Iran causing a major setback for the US Administration being rebuffed by the UNSC for the first time, Trend reports citing IRNA.

The US draft resolution aimed to extend Iran arms embargo which is expected to be lifted on October 18 under the terms of a 2015 Iran nuclear deal (known as JCPOA) endorsed and made into law by UNSCR 2231.

When the resolution was put on vote, only two of the 15 Council members voted for the resolution – one of them was the United States itself. Two members voted against the resolution and 11 others abstained.

82 days left to US Presidential elections, it seems that the Trump administration has tied its fate in the foreign policy to the extension of Iran arms embargo.

The United States, which unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA two years ago, is endeavoring to prevent the lifting of Iran arms embargo.

In its latest effort, the US proposed a draft resolution to the UN Security Council asking the member states to extend the arms embargo on Tehran.

The US, then, took back its 13-page draft resolution and came up with a watered down context of the draft one day later which was only four paragraphs. The new version was still contrary to the UNSCR 2231.

The voting was held online. Russia and China, which had signaled their objection to the draft from the very beginning, voted against it and the European and NAM member states of the UN Security Council also abstained so that the US faced a humiliating defeat.

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