Russia rejects extending Iran arms embargo, defies U.S. pressure

MOSCOW — Russia, seeing prospects for multibillion-dollar deals, ruled out extending a United Nations approved arms embargo on Iran that expires in October next year, rejecting U.S. warnings that lifting the restrictions will jeopardize global security.

“We’re not ready to do the bidding of our American

colleagues,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency in an interview published Friday. “They can just come up with something else next time.”

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo earlier this year warned that allowing renewed weapons sales to Iran will mean the country will be “unleashed to create new global turmoil.”

The removal of the U.N. arms embargo within five years was part of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which the U.S. withdrew from last year. President Donald Trump’s administration has pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran in a bid to force the Islamic Republic back to the negotiating table. Russia, China and European powers have tried unsuccessfully to salvage the landmark accord curbing Iran’s nuclear activities, though formally it’s still in existence.

Ending the ban on military sales “is important for Russia as it will bring it closer to Iran and opens up the world’s last big untapped weapons markets,” said Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Center of Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a defense industry consultancy in Moscow.