“Countries in the Middle East from the Gulf to Israel support extending the arms embargo,” he tweeted. “It is deeply important to every one of them. Arabs and Israelis are speaking with one voice, and the Security Council must listen.”
Pompeo’s remarks come as Dr. Nayef F.M. Alhajraf, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, sent a letter to the UN Security Council in support of the move. “The GCC Secretary-General pointed out that Iran has continued to proliferate conventional weapons and arm terrorist and sectarian organizations and movements throughout the region,” the council said in a statement.
The GCC, formed in 1981, includes Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar.
“In the years following the adoption of UNSCR 2231 in 2015, Iran has not ceased or desisted from armed interventions in neighboring countries, directly and through organizations and movements armed and trained by Iran,” the statement said. “As such, it is inappropriate to lift the restrictions on conventional weapons’ movement to and from Iran until it abandons its destabilizing activities in the region and ceases to provide weapons to terrorist and sectarian organizations.”
It is imperative to extend those restrictions to ensure and preserve peace and stability in this region and the rest of the world, it added.
The Gulf Cooperation Council’s letter “is a bold statement,” Pompeo said, adding that “the [Security] Council must choose between arming terrorists or standing by the Gulf.”
US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft shared the GCC statement on her Twitter account, adding that “these countries’ voices must be heard as Iran continues to proliferate conventional weapons and arm terrorists. Common sense must prevail.”
Extending the arms embargo on Iran is “a choice between freedom and tyranny,” she said last week.
Speaking at the Aspen Institute Security Forum, Craft acknowledged that China and Russia threatened to veto the resolution.
“The strategy in a perfect world would always be to have them abstain and not veto,” she said.
“However, let’s be realistic here. Right now, the strategy is working with the other members of the Security Council and making certain that we really just, as we did in Syria, put them in a corner and shine the light on them – because this is a choice between tyranny or freedom. And we will allow the world to see the choice that China and Russia will make,” Craft said.