Outgoing US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said that the Security Council needs to push Iran to abide by an arms embargo amid growing concerns that the Islamic Republic has supplied weapons and missiles to the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah. Most UN sanctions were lifted a year ago, under the nuclear agreement reached with world powers, but Iran is still subject to an arms embargo and other restrictions, which are not technically part of the accord, termed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions. In her last appearance at a public Security Council meeting before US President Barack Obama’s administration steps aside on Friday, Power said that recognizing “progress on Iran’s nuclear issues should not distract the powerful council from Iran’s other actions that continue to destabilize the Middle East.”
“But recognizing this progress on Iran’s nuclear issues should not distract this council from Iran’s other actions that continue to destabilize the Middle East in ways that affect a lot of issues on this council’s agenda. This is after all a regime that repeatedly threatens Israel and that continues to violate the human rights of its own people,” said Power.
Under a Security Council resolution enshrining the 2015 nuclear agreement, the UN secretary-general is required to report every six months on any violations of sanctions still in place. UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman briefed the 15-member council on the second UN report and said there had been no reports of nuclear-related or ballistic missile-related violations of the council resolution. However, the report expressed concern that Iran may have violated the resolution by supplying arms to Hezbollah. In response to report, the Security Council could impose further sanctions against Iran over breaches of the arms embargo, but Russia and China – which are council veto powers along with the United States, France and Britain – are unlikely to agree to such a move. It is important to note that Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator declared in 2015 that Tehran had no intention of complying with the international arms embargo or ballistic missile restrictions, and will continue to advance in actions that preserve the Islamic Republic’s security interests.