International lawyer says US has no way to extend Iran arms embargo

Tehran, May 18, IRNA – Nima Nasrollahi, an international lawyer said on Monday that he believes that it is not possible for the US to extend arms embargo on Iran after its unilateral exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action two years ago. Speaking to IRNA correspondent, Nasrollahi also said that there is no possibility for passing a new UN resolution against Iran like the 2010 Resolution 1929 as the permanent members of UN Security Council are not unanimous in this regard. Nasrollahi, a faculty member of Science and Culture University, said that the US imposed arms sanctions on Iran in 1984 while the United Nations did not have such sanctions against Iran until 2006 when it approved Resolution 1737 which restricted Iran’s nuclear technology. The United Nations also passed Resolution 1747 in 2007 which banned Iran from exports of arms, the academic said. In 2010 the Resolution 1929 was passed which banned Iran from any sales, purchases, exports or imports of arms, he said, adding that this resolution created the main problem for the country. He said that a 2015 Iran nuclear deal and a subsequent Resolution 2231 stress that the arms embargo on Iran has to be lifted five years after the accord and the UN resolution came into effect. Now we are nearing October 2020 when the arms embargo on Tehran are expected to be lifted, Nasrollahi said. He said that the US is no longer a party to Iran nuclear deal and therefore it has no access to the dispute resolution mechanism envisaged by the deal by which it could extend the arms embargo on Iran under certain conditions. Now the US State Department is seeking to return to JCPOA and exploit its Art. 36 to raise Iran’s case before the UN Security Council and re-impose the sanctions, the international lawyer said, adding that it is not possible for the US to do so. Based on the UN Charter, re-imposition of Iran arms embargo requires the affirmative vote of all members of the UN Security Council and it can be vetoed by each permanent member of the Council, he added. It would have been much better for the US to remain a party to JCPOA and send Iran’s case to the UN Security Council by means of the dispute resolution mechanism, he said, noting that in such case China and Russia could not veto the Council’s decision.