Arms embargo termination proves US 'very isolated' in its policy toward Iran: Analyst

An end to the arms embargo on Iran has proved that the United States, despite its ceaseless bid to extend the sanctions, has become very isolated in its hostile policy toward Iran, an American political commentator and human rights activist says.

Daniel Kovalik, who teaches international human rights at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Law, told Press TV on Sunday after the UN Security Council (UNSC)’s arms embargo against the Islamic Republic expired.

The embargo on trade in conventional weapons with Iran was lifted in line with the country’s historic 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), between Iran and five other countries – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany.

However, US President Donald Trump, a hawkish critic of the JCPOA, unilaterally withdrew Washington from the agreement in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism, particularly from other signatories to the landmark deal.

“The US has become very isolated in its policy toward Iran. Let’s remember that Iran was compliant fully with the nuclear deal that it signed with [former US] President Barack Obama and Trump unilaterally withdrew from it, knowing that Iran was compliant with it,” Kovalik said.

 

Iran’s UN mission hails end of ‘unjust’ arms embargo

Iran’s UN mission hails the end of a “baseless, unjust, and unlawful” arms embargo against the country.

The termination of the arms embargo came in spite of months-long attempts by Washington to keep it in place, urging other signatories to follow the suit.

In June, the US circulated a draft resolution among the UNSC’s 15-strong membership, urging prevention of the embargo’s expiration. Only the Dominican Republic voted in favor of the draft that was voted against by China and Russia and abstained by the rest of the UNSC’s members.

Washington’s campaign was in contravention of the JCPOA and Resolution 2231, which endorses the nuclear deal, as the US had left the nuclear deal in 2018, thus losing all of its rights as a signatory.

Kovalik also said that not only did other signatories of the JCPOA, like the European countries, oppose Trump’s withdrawal from the landmark deal, but also other countries did not support Trump’s controversial move, “and now they are not backing him in this attempt to continue the arms embargo.”

“So, the US now is alone in its belligerent stance toward Iran. Quite naturally, it made no sense what Trump did, He is out of aces,” Kovalik added.    

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