As of today and in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2231, all restrictions that were imposed on activities and transfers related to ballistic missiles to and from the Islamic Republic of Iran will end, the Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani said on its X account.
The UN embargo prohibiting the Shi’ite country from purchasing and selling missiles and drones expired today, Wednesday (Oct 18).
Iran is no longer subject to any restrictions within the framework of the UN Security Council, Bagheri Kani said. This creates a wild card in the ongoing Hamas vs Israel conflict.
As of today, all restrictions imposed on individuals and entities on the 2231 list, including frozen assets, will end and the list will be removed from the United Nations website.
The Biden administration has come under fire for not doing enough to retain the sanctions.
Iran can now legally buy an ICBM from China or sell missiles and/or drones to Hamas, Hezbollah, Russia – whomever it wants!
“Washington’s silence on the lapse of UN missile prohibitions on Iranian missile testing and transfers is deafening. Iran’s missile proliferation radius keeps expanding, and with the lapse of UN restrictions this October, that will almost certainly grow to include Russia,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert and senior fellow at FDD, was quoted as saying by Fox News.
This is a smokescreen for a major Biden admin policy failure.
— Mark Dubowitz (@mdubowitz) October 18, 2023
They allowed UN embargo on Iran’s missiles and UAVs to expire. They could have snapped back these sanctions unilaterally or encouraged Europeans to do it.
Congress demanded it. They refused. https://t.co/3CgHmbTqXo
Meanwhile, a statement by the European Union said it was acting to maintain the designations that the UN had imposed initially.
“The Council also agreed to maintain sectoral and individual measures, existing under the EU’s sanctions regime, notably those related to Iran nuclear proliferation, as well as arms and missile embargoes,” the EU statement read.