Saudi, US call for extending UN arms embargo on Iran
Arms curbs on Iran are due to expire in October; Tehran issues arrest warrant for Trump for killing general, human error led to shooting down of Ukrainian jet, says prosecutor
Saudi and US officials on Monday urged the global community to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran, saying that failing to do so would allow Tehran to further arm its proxies and destabilise the Middle East.
The arms curbs on Iran are due to expire in October under the terms of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
The UN Security Council will decide on the matter and veto-powers Russia and China have signalled they oppose reimposing the ban.
“Despite the embargo, Iran seeks to provide weapons to terrorist groups, so what will happen if the embargo is lifted? Iran will become more ferocious and aggressive,” Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel Al Jubeir told a joint news conference with US Iran envoy Brian Hook in Riyadh.
Jubeir said a shipment of Iranian weapons bound for the Yemen rebels (Houthis) was seized as recently as Sunday.
Hook said similar shipments were intercepted in February and last November.
The conference venue displayed weapons, including drones and missiles, that Saudi authorities said were used in cross-border Houthi attacks on Saudi cities.
“We urge the international community to extend the embargo on selling arms to Iran and on Iran’s ability to sell arms to the world,” Jubeir said.
Hook said lifting the ban would “only embolden” Tehran, drive greater instability and trigger a regional arms race. “This is not an outcome that the U.N. Security Council can accept,” he added.
Iran has warned it will respond if the embargo is extended and said such a decision would endanger the 2015 nuclear pact, under which Tehran agreed to halt its disputed uranium enrichment programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
Meanwhile, Iran said on Monday that it has called for Interpol to help arrest President Donald Trump and 35 other US officials for the January killing of its top general in an American drone strike.
Tehran prosecutor Ali Qasi Mehr, quoted by state news agency IRNA, said 36 US political and military officials “involved in the assassination” of General Qasem Soleimani “have been investigated and were ordered to be arrested through Interpol”.
“These people have been charged with murder and terrorist acts,” he said.
“At the top of the list is US President Donald Trump, and his prosecution will continue even after the end of his term,” said the prosecutor, referring to his bid for re-election in November.
Qasi Mehr, quoted on the judiciary’s Mizan Online official website, said “the Iranian judiciary has issued arrest warrants against the 36.”
He called for the international police agency Interpol to issue red notices, which are not arrest warrants but issued for those wanted for prosecution or sentencing.
Interpol, however, told media that any such intervention would be contrary to its constitution, without directly confirming it had been contacted by Iran.
Under Article 3 of the constitution, “it is strictly forbidden for the Organisation to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character”, said the agency based in the French city of Lyon. “Interpol would not consider requests of this nature.”
Separately, the military prosecutor for Tehran province, Gholam Abbas Torki said on Monday that the shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran in January was due to human error and not an order from senior military authorities.
There was no indication that the downing of the airliner, which killed all 176 people aboard, was due to a cyber attack on Iran’s missile or air defence systems, Torki said, adding that three people were under arrest related to the accident.
The airliner was shot down shortly after takeoff in Tehran, when Iran’s air defences were on high alert, hours after Iran had fired missiles at a US base in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of an Iranian commander. Iran has already described the shooting down of the plans as a tragic mistake.
The operator of the air defence system should have received orders from his superiors before firing two missiles at the airliner, Torki said.