Iran declares official termination of UN arms embargo

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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif.

Tehran, (Asian independent) The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday announced that the UN Security Councils (UNSC) arms embargo against Tehran has been terminated in line with the 2015 landmark nuclear deal.

“As of today, all restrictions on the transfer of arms, related activities and financial services to and from the Islamic Republic of Iran, and all prohibitions regarding the entry into or transit through territories of the UN Member States previously imposed on a number of Iranian citizens and military officials, are all automatically terminated,” Press tv quoted a Ministry statement as saying.

The longstanding UN ban on the sale of arms from/to Iran is terminated under the terms of the UNSC Resolution 2231.

“As of today, the Islamic Republic may procure any necessary arms and equipment from any source without any legal restrictions, and solely based on its defensive needs, and may also export defensive armaments based on its own policies,” the statement said.

The Ministry also made it clear that “the lifting of arms restrictions and the travel ban were designed to be automatic with no other action required”.

On August 14, US President Donald Trump’s administration failed to renew the Iranian arms embargo through a resolution at the UNSC, Press TV reported.

Russia and China voted against the motion and the remaining 11 council members, including France, Germany and the UK, abstained.

Shortly after the announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the international community had “protected” the nuclear deal and October 18 marked the “normalization of Iran’s cooperation with the world”,

“Today’s normalization of Iran’s defence cooperation with the world is a win for the cause of multilateralism and peace and security in our region,” he added.