In October, a UN Security Council ban on selling military equipment to, or buying it from, the Islamic Republic is set to expire. Behnam Ben Taleblu explains why it is crucial that Washington do everything in its power to ensure that the ban is renewed:
The end of the embargo brings with it a two-fold conventional-arms challenge: Iranian military modernization through the legal importation of weapons, as well as Iran’s greater export of weapons that enhance the lethality of its proxies and partners. While Iran has already violated [the resolution] through attempts both to procure and to proliferate weapons, losing the international architecture with which to call this activity a “violation” and rally the international community to act permits Tehran to . . . chip away [with greater ease] at the existing balance of power in the Middle East.
At the helm of the effort [to let the embargo lapse] are Russia and China, two states Iran has already lobbied to oppose the U.S. at the Security Council. . . . Both [countries] played an outsized role in Iran’s re-armament after the Iran-Iraq War, helping it gain access to a limited quantity of fighter jets, diesel submarines, and anti-ship missiles. Both states also signed up during that era to aid Iran’s nuclear program.
While Russia and China are not predisposed to provide Tehran with every capability it desires, empowering Iran would create more headaches for Washington and [distract the U.S. from dealing with the problems of Russian and Chinese aggression]. In 2017, the U.S. National Security Strategy warned that the era of “great-power competition” was back, with Russia and China more inclined to challenge Washington’s “geopolitical advantages” around the world. Iran is now set to be one theater for this contest.
Read more on Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/us-right-push-extend-un-arms-embargo-iran-opinion-1512028