The United States presented on Monday a new draft resolution to the Security Council for the extension of a United Nations arms embargo on Tehran and a listing a new round of sanctions on its arms activities under Article 41 of Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
The draft resolution suggests the establishment of a new committee of experts to inspect and document Iran’s violations and to consider “additional measures” to maintain and restore international peace and security.
The draft resolution, a copy of which was received by which Asharq Al-Awsat, calls for the “inspection of all merchandise coming or destined for Iranian lands, in accordance with the applicable international law, provided that member states confiscate and dispose of any Iranian ship, if the ship is engaged in internationally prohibited activities, and freeze funds and assets that support prohibited Iranian activities.”
For the first time, the draft resolution clearly links the Iranian violations of the international law to the two resolutions, 2140 on Yemen and 1701 on Lebanon, because of Iran’s support to Yemen’s Houthi militias and Lebanon’s Hezbollah party.
Chapter VII of the UN Charter allows the Security Council to decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions. It may call upon the members of the UN to apply such measures.
The US draft resolution starts by condemning the Iranian attack against Saudi Arabia in September 2019, in addition to the attacks against an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk and the US embassy in Baghdad.
The UN arms embargo on Iran will expire in October under resolution 2231, which endorses the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Washington has warned that if the Security Council does not extend the embargo before the October cut-off, its administration would trigger a so-called “snapback” of all UN sanctions on Iran, including the arms embargo, under the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal.
In April, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “We will work with the UN Security Council to extend that prohibition on those arms sales and then in the event we can’t get anyone else to act, the United States is evaluating every possibility about how we might do that.”
Source » iranians.global