What will happen on October 18 this year, exactly five years after the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will be not only the lifting of Iran’s arms embargo under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, but also the official declaration of the victory of the Islamic Republic of Iran over Western conspiracies in a breathtaking marathon and by adopting an active resistance strategy.

Iran Presscommentary: The lifting of the arms embargo of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the coming days is a tremendous strategic victory for Iran, which was achieved due to the strategy of "active resistance." 

Tehran’s victory thwarted joint conspiracies of the US and its European partners to "extend arms embargo on Iran."

The United States has openly and formally called for a waiver of the legal requirement of Annex 5 of the JCPOA and Annex B to UN Security Council Resolution 2231 to end the arms embargo on Iran by the end of the fifth year after the JCPOA’s implementation, insisting on an "indefinite extension" of Iran's arms embargo. 

The main reason for Washington's failure was Iran's insistence on lifting its arms embargo in accordance with official UN legal instruments, in particular Security Council Resolution 2231, and raising the cost of any unusual US-European joint legal action.

The famous July Security Council meeting to review the US proposal to extend Iran’s arms embargo clearly showed that despite the apparent opposition of the European Union (especially the European Troika) to the indefinite extension of the arms embargo on Iran, they tried to persuade Tehran through diplomatic consultations in the form of covert diplomacy to voluntarily accept the temporary extension of the arms embargo. 

In other words, Europe's apparent opposition to the Security Council proposal to extend Iran's arms embargo did not necessarily mean that Europe would stand up to Washington's extravagance. European leaders initially sought a limited arms embargo on Iran, believing that this demand should be met through diplomatic and even economic pressure imposed on Iran because the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 has legally left no room for Western countries to maneuver in this regard.

In this context, the European Union considered the draft of a “three-year” or even “one-year or six-month” extension of Iran’s arms embargo. Essentially, European officials’ hasty action in passing the anti-Iran resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors was a prelude to presenting the same plan in the UN Security Council.

However, the decisive messages and behaviors based on the strategy of "active resistance" in Iran failed the European actors in continuing this path, to the point that they did not even succeed in their behind-the-scenes commitment to Washington and Tel Aviv to prevent the lifting of the arms embargo on Iran to take action on the specified date (October 18).

In this regard, the Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly stressed that any extension of the arms embargo (whether unlimited or temporary) is in complete conflict with the JCPOA and the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, and after October 18 this year, Tehran will not even accept seconds of delays in lifting these sanctions.

On the other hand; Iran also informed the European side of the consequences of indirect play in White House’ grounds regarding the extension of Iran's arms embargo, and explicitly stated that if European leaders insist on their behind-the-scenes joint plan with the White House on "temporary extension of Iran's arms embargo,” regardless of whether the proposal is approved or not approved by the UN Security Council, they are considered as a "belligerent party", and their action will be considered exactly synonymous with "official withdrawal from the JCPOA", where any costs and consequences of this incident will be borne by the European Troika.

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