Intel: Russia to pursue military cooperation with Iran once arms embargo expires

Sep 22, 2020

A top Russian official said today his government will pursue military cooperation with Iran once the United Nations arms embargo on the Middle Eastern country expires in October.

“New opportunities will emerge in our cooperation with Iran after the special regime imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231 expires on Oct. 18,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency. Ryabkov did not elaborate on the nature of the cooperation.

Why it matters:  The move is a poke in the eye to the United States, which proved unable last month to convince even its closest allies in the UN Security Council to renew the international arms embargo on Iran, despite Tehran’s expanded conventional ballistic missile program and support for militias in regional conflicts.

The United States says it has triggered a snapback of UN sanctions in response to the failure to renew the arms embargo. On Sunday, however, France, Germany and the United Kingdom said the unilateral re-imposition had no legal validity.

Russia has argued that because the United States pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, Washington is not eligible to reimpose sanctions on Tehran.