World News
DUBAI (Reuters) – The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has asked the United Nations to extend a global arms embargo on Iran, a move pressed highly by the United States.
The secretariat of the GCC, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, said in a statement on Sunday that Iran’s ongoing interference in neighbouring countries made an extension required.
The arms embargo on Iran is currently set to end on Oct. 18 under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear handle world powers, which Washington stopped in2018
The request, in a letter to the United Nations, is a program of unity from the GCC. In mid-2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed political, trade and transport ties with Qatar over accusations it had actually been supporting terrorism and cosying as much as Iran. Qatar denies the accusations.
” It is improper to raise constraints on the supply of weapons from and to Iran up until Iran offers up its destabilising activities in the area and stops supplying terrorist and sectarian organisations with weapons,” a statement from GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Mubarak al-Hajraf stated.
If the United States is not successful in extending the embargo, it has threatened to set off a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran under a process agreed in the 2015 offer.
The U.S.-drafted resolution needs a minimum of 9 votes in favour to force Russia and China to utilize their vetoes, which Moscow and Beijing have signified they will do. Some diplomats question whether Washington can even protect those nine, however.
Writing by Lisa Barrington; Modifying by Nick Macfie
