US attacks Iran for violating arms embargo by sending weapons ship to Syria

12 November 2009

At a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, the United States has accused Iran of violating a United Nations arms embargo imposed on it by secretly sending weapons to Syria in a cargo ship seized by Israel. Britain also expressed "very serious concern" at suggestions that Iran was caught illegally exporting weapons but saying it was waiting for more information about the ship's origin, destination, cargo and seizure. US deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff and British deputy ambassador Philip Parham raised Israel's seizure of the cargo vessel ‘Francop’ last week in the Mediterranean during a closed-door council debate on implementation of the 2006 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

 

Wolff reportedly told the council that the concealed arms shipment, "clearly manifested from Iran to Syria" in violation of the UN arms embargo, provides "unambiguous evidence of the destabilizing proliferation of arms in the region." The United States also called on Syria and Iran to end their "material support" for Hezbollah and other terror groups in Lebanon, which violated the 2006 ceasefire resolution.

 

UN Security Council Resolution 1747 of March 2007 states “that Iran shall not supply, sell or transfer directly or indirectly from its territory or by its nationals or using its flag vessels or aircraft any arms or related materiel, and that all States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, and whether or not originating in the territory of Iran.”

 

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