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No reason for embargo on Iran, Lavrov says in letter to UN secretary general

According to Russia’s top diplomat, the measures stipulated by UN Security Council Resolution 2231 were temporary

MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. There are no objective reasons to raise the issue of extending the weapons’ embargo on Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Russia’s Kommersant daily said on Tuesday.

According to Russia’s top diplomat, the measures stipulated by UN Security Council Resolution 2231 were temporary.

"The application of relevant provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 was never envisaged after October 18, 2020, and there are no legal or other reasons to review this concept," Kommersant quoted the letter as saying. "Objective grounds for raising the Iranian weapons embargo issue at the UN Security Council do not exist. Weapons supplies have no relation to Iran’s nuclear program."

Lavrov also drew the UN secretary general’s attention to Washington’s attempts "to pursue its goals regardless of logic, other states’ opinion and potential danger to implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231," which raise serious concerns in Moscow.

"Statements that the United States is not planning to return to its commitments under JCPOA, but intends to make use of the rights that allegedly stem from UN Security Council Resolution 2231, sound ridiculous and irresponsible," he said, adding that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program cannot be treated separately from this resolution.

"The US should understand that there are no legal or any other basis for them to conduct the policy of using UN Security Council powers for its own selfish interests," Lavrov added.

The US mission to the United Nations said in a statement on May 13 that "the United States will work tirelessly with a coalition of concerned nations to ensure the embargo is extended." Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said that the US could not demand an extension of the arms embargo because it had withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal. He pointed out that there was no reason to extend the embargo.

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