In an online conference held by the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on 26 August,
three US experts emphasize that the reimpose of the UN sanctions on Iran’s regime is an important stage to prevent the regime’s warmongering and malign activities in other countries and the Middle East region.
In December 2006, the UNSC imposed a partial embargo on the export of technology related to nuclear weapon delivery systems to Iran, which includes certain technologies which can be used in conventional military applications. In March 2007, the UNSC added an embargo on arms exports from Iran. This was followed in June 2010 by a UN embargo on the export of most major conventional weapons to Iran. This provision will be lifted on 18 October 2020. In its recent efforts, the US Government failed to renew the arms embargo on Iran.
On this online conference the importance of this issue was discussed as followed:
Alireza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of the NCRI U.S. Representative Office in Washington while speaking about the NCRI’s news report entitled: “IRAN: The Imperative to Reimpose UN Sanctions”, said that the details of this report are about the rogue behavior of the Iranian regime, in the region, their terrorism. Based on the facts on the ground, re-imposing sanctions is a must.”
He added: “The book looks at the modus operandi of the regime’s velayat-e faqih system or the absolute rule of the clergy. In addition to the regular army, the regime has the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force, whose sole purpose is state-sponsored terrorism. It manufactures weapons and supplies its proxies with weapons. Providing this regime with arms will be feeding the mayhem created in the region.
“The book provides details of the structure of the IRGC Aerospace Forces, which are tasked with producing weapons of mass destruction. This is the subset of the IRGC that is responsible for many aggressive acts, including last year’s attack on the Saudi Aramco Facility in Abqaiq.”
Amb. Joseph Detrani, former Special Envoy for Six-Party Talks with North Korea said:
“As we look at what is going on in Iran right now, in Iran, one has to have significant empathy for the people going through the pandemic. Ever since we signed the JCPOA with Iran, hoping the unfrozen $50 billion would go to the people of Iran. But the theocracy continued with what we saw in the 1980s, the attacks on the Marines barracks in Beirut. That continues today in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria.
“The Quds Force is perpetrating terrorist acts. The JCPOA was meant mainly, in addition to denuclearization, to move Iran on a path of peaceful transformation. When we look at the nuclear issue, we see up until 2003, Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Monitors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were having problems accessing facilities. And that situation continues today. They continue to support terrorist proxies, undermining good governance. Terrorist activities continue.”
Mike Pregent, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and an expert on Middle East affairs said:
“When there was sanctions relief, the people of Iran saw no benefit. Iran used the money to fund terrorism, to buy S300 air defense missile systems from Russia. They went after opposition forces fighting the Assad regime in Syria. Critics say bad behavior began after the U.S. walked away from the deal. No. This behavior existed and accelerated. Iran used the economic benefits of the deal to further destabilize Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, to produce ballistic missiles.
“Our allies, and Russian and China, signed on the 2015 nuclear deal to exploit Iran’s economy. It is important for the U.S. to snap back sanctions into place to protect the Iranian people from Chinese imports, from predator Chinese lenders, to prevent the intensification of Iran’s destabilizing activities. Iran is not an economic powerhouse and China and Russia are trying to salvage that.
“This regime, in its 40-year history, does not own Iran’s history, culture, what Iranians think about their future, or their lives ahead.”
Amb. Marc Ginsberg, former U.S. envoy to Morocco said:
“What we tend to forget is how many tens of thousands of innocent Iranians have been murdered by this regime to maintain its hold on power. I am struck by the reality of what has taken place since President Trump decided to withdraw from the nuclear agreement. Iran was already violating the JCPOA even before the ink was dry on the nuclear deal. It was creating a secret facility for uranium enrichment.
“Tehran was banking on governments in Europe and the U.S. to provide it with the means to pursue its objective. The regime wants to cause revolution and conquest to occur in the regime. This is why the leadership has created this concept of the Shiite crescent. Iran further violated the agreement by lifting caps on heavy water and uranium enrichment.
“The regime still intends the world to bend to its will. If you look at its involvement in Yemen, supporting the Houthis, its support of Hezbollah and Hamas, its pressure on the Iraqi government. All we have to do is look at the future of Lebanon and what the regime has done.”
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