(JTA) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit to Israel urged the United Nations Security Council to renew its arms embargo against Iran when it expires next year.
“Because of the flawed Iran deal, the UN arms embargo on Iran will expire in one year. Countries like Russia and China will be able to sell Iran sophisticated weapons,” Pompeo tweeted prior to meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Friday.
“The Iranian regime will be free to sell weapons to anyone. This will trigger a new arms race in the Middle East,” he wrote. “If you’re worried about Iran’s behavior now, imagine what Iran will do with advanced missiles, drones, tanks, and jets. The Security Council must renew the arms embargo,” he added.
Pompeo’s visit is “to discuss developments in Syria and the continued need to counter the Iranian regime’s destabilizing behavior in the region,” a State Department statement said.
Following the recent U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria, Turkish troops invaded the area. Israel condemned the invasion and offered assistance to the north Syrian Kurds, U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS.
The United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and the European Union in 2015 reached an agreement with Iran to lift sanctions from it in exchange for its scaling back of parts of its nuclear program for 10 years. Israel opposed the deal.
Last year President Donald Trump took the United States out of the deal, casting doubts on its viability.
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