Iran Ready for Arms Trade as Clock Ticking for Embargo Lifting
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The spokesperson for Iran’s UN mission voiced the country’s readiness to begin arms trade with the friends as soon as a decade-old arms embargo on Tehran is removed on Sunday.
“Iran has many friends and trading partners, and has a robust domestic arms industry to ensure its defense requirements against foreign aggression,” Alireza Miryousefi told Newsweek in an interview published on Friday.
“In accordance with the timeline stated in Resolution 2231, Iran will be relieved from arms restrictions as early as Oct. 18. Naturally, from that date, we’ll trade, on the basis of our national interests, with other countries in this field,” Miryousefi said.
He added that the lack of support for Washington’s initiatives was telling of its position vis- -vis the international community, Press TV reported.
“It is abundantly clear that the UN—and the overwhelming majority of its member states—reject the US’ so-called maximum pressure policy on Iran,” and that “its attempts to even further violate the JCPOA and UNSCR 2231 have led to its isolation,” the spokesperson noted.
Although Iran has not yet formally announced any specific country to start trading arms, Miryousefi said Tehran had options beginning on Sunday.
The US suffered an embarrassing diplomatic defeat in August when the United Nations Security Council rejected a proposal to indefinitely extend the arms ban.
The embargo on conventional arms is due to expire on October 18 under the terms of a resolution that blessed the Iran nuclear deal, signed in July 2015 and officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.