Anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 a Reminder of Expiration of Iranian Arms Transfer Restrictions

(New York, N.Y.) – The fourth anniversary of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2231 on July 20 is a bitter reminder to the world that restrictions on Iranian arms transfers will expire in a little more than a year. This sunset provision was a key flaw in the broader Iran nuclear deal, leaders of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) said today.

“Restrictions on Iranian arms transfers will expire by October 18, 2020,” said UANI Chairman Senator Joseph I. Lieberman. “This is only the first of the ‘sunset provisions’ on Iran’s military, missiles and nuclear programs contained in UNSC Resolution 2231. “These very short-sighted provisions made the Iran nuclear deal a flawed agreement from the outset and fully justified President Trump’s decision to withdraw.”

“The Houthis and Hezbollah have used weapons smuggled from Iran to attack Saudi Arabia and threaten Israel,” said UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace. “Once arms transfer restrictions expire, rather than just smuggling, Iran may openly supply multiple kinds of precision-guided missiles and drones to Hezbollah, the Houthis and others at unprecedented levels, which is why it is critical that the administration’s current maximum pressure economic campaign be fully enforced and sustained.”

In its report, JCPOA Sunset Alert, UANI details the hazards once the arms transfer provisions of  UNSC Resolution 2231 expire. Guns, howitzers, mortars, battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships and missiles or missile systems can proliferate throughout the region, creating destabilizing consequences for Yemen, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Israel. Terror organizations like Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad the Houthis and the Al-Ashtar Brigades are the likely beneficiaries of this sunset provision.

To read the UANI report, JCPOA Sunset Alert, please click here.