Due to Iran’s efforts to overthrow foreign governments, finance terror, illegally test-fire intercontinental ballistic missiles, and many other malign activities, it is known as the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.
As a consequence of Iran’s nefarious pursuits, in 2007, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution preventing the import or export of arms in Iran. In 2010, the U.N. Security Council placed further restrictions on Iran. But then came the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, otherwise known as the Obama administration’s Iran Nuclear Deal. It arranged for these two resolutions to expire five years after its enactment. This was just one of the sunset provisions poorly negotiated as part of that agreement.
Although the United States has withdrawn from the Obama nuclear deal, and rightfully so, our European allies and U.N. Security Council counterparts have not. Now, on the fifth anniversary of this ill-conceived deal, we’re quickly approaching the expiration of the arms embargo against Iran.
However, even with Iran under the existing embargo, it has continued to violate the resolution without retribution, contributing to some of the most destabilizing threats to the U.S. and Middle East through weapons transfers.
Iran supplies militia groups such as Kataib Hezbollah and Hamas, which are responsible for dozens of rocket attacks against the U.S. and coalition forces as the U.S. and its allies successfully fought to eliminate the ISIS caliphate.
Just last week, the Department of State announced that the U.S. and its allies seized a boat in June carrying Iranian weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen. These included 200 rocket-propelled grenades, more than 1,700 rifles, 21 surface-to-air and land-attack missiles, anti-tank missiles, and more advanced weaponry.
Even the U.N. secretary-general’s own report recently confirmed the U.S.’s belief that weapons seized by American forces in both November 2019 and February 2020 originated in Iran, but despite these findings, Iran continued to operate nefariously with impunity.
If this is how the Iranian regime has continued to operate under the current embargo, it’s clear that with the weapons embargo lifted, the threat that Iran poses to regional peace and stability would only increase.
Failure to renew the arms embargo would mean that Iran could legally purchase state-of-the-art weapons — high power weapons, advanced missiles, and other deadly hardware — and funnel them to the terrorist organizations it continues to support.
As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed out to the U.N. in November of last year, Iran’s intentions following the expiration of the arms embargo came straight from the horse’s mouth. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani himself said, “When the embargo … is lifted next year, we can easily buy and sell weapons.”
Time and time again, Iran has turned to violence and terrorism not only against the world, but against its own people, and the world is taking Iran’s threats seriously.
That’s why Iran’s neighbors, from Israel to Saudi Arabia, which are often victims of Iran and Iran’s proxies, support the extension of the arms embargo having witnessed just a taste of life without it.
Even in a time when partisanship seemingly dominates U.S. politics, nearly 400 members of the House of Representatives agree on the need to extend the arms embargo. Speaking with one voice in a recent letter, these members collectively underscored the grave risk that Iran’s ability to buy and sell weapons would pose to the safety and security of the globe.
Iran’s neighbors are taking Iran’s threats seriously, and it’s time the U.N. did so as well. Whether it’s 400 Members of Congress urging the continuation of the embargo, Iran’s neighbors, or countries around the world that support the arms embargo’s extension, it’s clear the U.N. must extend the arms embargo in the name of regional and global peace and security.
Lee Zeldin represents New York’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he also serves as ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
