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Trump restores UN sanctions on Islamic Republic: ‘I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon’

The order blocks those trying to sell, supply or transfer conventional arms to Iran or provide financial support, training or other services connected with arms sales.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order slapping new sanctions on Iran and also claiming to restore UN sanctions that are set to expire in October.

“My Administration will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, nor will we allow Iran to endanger the rest of the world with a fresh supply of ballistic missiles and conventional arms,” Trump said.

“To ensure this cannot happen, I am issuing a new Executive Order, restoring United Nations (UN) sanctions on Iran, and imposing new sanctions and export controls on more than two dozen entities and individuals that support Iran’s nuclear, missile, and conventional arms-related activities,” the president said.

The order blocks those trying to sell, supply or transfer conventional arms to Iran or provide financial support, training or other services connected with arms sales.

“This Executive Order is critical to enforcing the UN arms embargo on Iran. The order will greatly diminish the Iranian regime’s capacity to export arms to terrorists and dangerous actors throughout the region, as well as its ability to acquire weapons to build up its own forces,” Trump said.

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, joined by the president’s top national security aides, said at a press conference on Monday, “The Trump administration has always been honest about what the Iranian regime really is. A radical revolutionary and the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and anti-Semitism.”

“President Trump understood that the JCPOA [2015 Iran deal] was an abject failure. It didn’t bring Iran into the community of nations or block Tehran’s path to a nuclear weapon. Instead, it was an exercise in appeasement. It gifted the regime billions and paved the way for Iran to become the arms dealer of choice for terrorist groups and dictators all across the world in just five short years,” Pompeo said.

The 2015 nuclear deal with Iran lifted sanctions against the Islamic Republic in return for halting its nuclear program. Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed some sanctions. It has since added additional sanctions.

On August 20, the Trump administration notified the president of the UN Security Council that it was employing the “snapback” provision in the deal to restore UN sanctions against Iran. However, 13 of the 15 members of the Security Council have disagreed with the U.S. position, saying it no longer has legal standing to reimpose UN sanctions given that it pulled out of the deal.

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The United States argued that it was forced to take action as Iran has failed to live up to its commitments under the deal and “the Security Council failed to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran, which had been in place for 13 years.”

The other members of the Security Council say they will ignore the U.S. move.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft said, “As we have in the past, we will stand alone to protect peace and security. We do not need a cheering section to validate our moral compass. We do not find comfort based solely in numbers, particularly when the majority had found themselves in the uncomfortable position of underwriting chaos, terror and conflict. We refuse to be members of that club.”