The U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook revealed that a series of weapons that were confiscated by the United States and its Arab allies across the Middle East, which were smuggled into multiple conflict zones by the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards to Tehran’s proxies. Showcasing a number of Iranian-made weapons that were found in the possession of Shi’ite militias, Ambassador Hook stressed it was a clear violation of a series of U.N. security council resolutions, including resolution 2231, which served as the only document that in effect ratified the nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic. According to Hook, “Iran has been prohibited by several UN resolutions from exporting arms for a decade. These restrictions were in place starting in 2006 under UN Security Council Resolution 1737 and 1747, which I helped to negotiate. The prohibitions have continued since 2015 under UN Resolution 2231. This display and the items we have added to it reveal an outlaw regime exporting arms as it pleases.” The Pentagon’s showcasing of Iranian weapons, many of which were handed over by Saudi Arabia, was the second presentation of its kind. In fact, it coincides with growing concern in Congress over U.S. military support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s civil war, which has led to a deep humanitarian crisis. Ambassador Hook, however, underscored the growing threat posed by the Iranian regime, which accumulates a risk of a regional escalation, unless Washington and its allies would fail to act. “Today, the United States is unveiling new evidence of Iran’s ongoing missile proliferation. The Iranian threat is growing, and we are accumulating risk of escalation in the region if fail to act. / “Iran’s support of the Houthi militants has deepened, it’s backing of terrorist activities across the world has increased, and its efforts to undermine regional stability have expanded. The inventory in this display has expanded since December. This is a function of Iran’s relentless commitment to put more weapons into the hands of even more of its proxies, regardless of the suffering,” said the U.S. Special Representative for Iran.
Although the Iranian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to TV7’s request for comment, it had denied allegations of supplying weapons to any militia across the region – even though its Lebanese-proxy Hezbollah had on several occasions hailed the Islamic Republic of its unwavering support of the Shi’ite group’s military capabilities, which its leader, Hassan Nasrallah declared ‘are aimed to confront Israel.’