As UN embargo expires, US says committed to countering Iran’s missile, drone program

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it was committed to countering Iran’s missile and drone program hours after a UN arms embargo on Tehran expired as the European Union and Washington failed to extend the ban.

“Iran’s development, procurement, and proliferation of missiles and missile-related technology remains one of the greatest challenges to international peace and security,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The UN arms embargo expired as part of the now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal, which the Obama administration brokered. Despite a strong willingness by the Biden administration to revive the agreement, which former President Donald Trump withdrew from, Washington’s efforts have thus far failed. Iran’s supply of drones to Russia for its war on Ukraine, Tehran’s bloody crackdown on protesters inside Iran, and attacks on US troops by Iran-backed proxies in the Middle East upended those efforts.

Blinken said the “horrific impact” of Iran’s provision of missiles and drones to terror organizations and militant proxies directly threatened the security of Israel and Gulf partners.

The top US diplomat also said the destructive result of Iran’s transfer of lethal drones to Russia was being used to target critical civilian infrastructure and kill civilians in Ukraine.

“We remain focused on addressing Iran’s destabilizing proliferation activities, in particular its missile and UAV programs and the threats they pose to the world,” Blinken said.

On Wednesday, the UN restrictions on Iran’s missile-related activities under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 expired.

Senior US intelligence officials previously have been racing to dispel Iranian claims that it is not supporting Russia in its war on Ukraine. In a recent off-camera briefing, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officials and analysts explained the correlation between Iranian drones used to target American troops in Iraq and those used by Russia to kill civilians inside Ukraine.

Blinken said the US was committed to utilizing “every tool at our disposal” to counter Iran’s missile and drone program.

“We and our partners will also continue to raise our concerns at the United Nations and demand that Iran be held accountable for the destabilizing impacts of its proliferation,” he added.

As part of those efforts to counter Iran’s destabilizing behavior, the US announced additional designations on individuals and entities related to Iran’s missile, conventional arms, and UAV activities.

The US Treasury Department sanctioned 11 individuals, 8 entities, and one vessel based in Iran, Hong Kong, China and Venezuela for enabling Iran’s destabilizing ballistic missile and drone programs.

“The United States has worked to disrupt Iran’s missile program since long before the UN Security Council imposed restrictions on it,” Blinken said. “We will continue to do so, using every tool at our disposal, so long as Iran poses a threat to security and stability in the Middle East region and around the world.”

Critics, particularly from the Trump administration, have said the Biden administration has not done enough to deter Iran.

“UN Sanctions on 84 Iranian individuals and entities linked to their nuclear and ballistic missile activities have also expired. They can now legally travel and fundraise around the world, and all UN asset freezes have been lifted. While Iran has enriched uranium to 83.7% purity,” said Gabriel Noronha, a former State Department senior advisor on Iran.

The US and the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)-endorsing States admitted that Iran holds the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East, and its ballistic missile programs continue to threaten countries across the region and beyond.

Forty-six countries, including the US, UK, France, Ukraine, and Israel, signed a joint statement.

While admitting that the UN arms embargo was based on the assumption that Iran would take the necessary steps towards restoring confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program, the countries said, “This has not happened.”

The countries said all States needed to continue to take steps to counter Iran’s destabilizing ballistic missile-related activities through ongoing counterproliferation cooperation.