PHOTO: Carolyn Kaster/AP

United States Special Representative for Iran and Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Brian Hook visited the United Arab Emirates on June 27-28, 2020.

Iran Press/Middle East: According to the US State Department, during the visit, Hook met with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash, and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority Khaldoon Khalifa al-Mubarak.

The two sides discussed extending the UN arms embargo on Iran, which expires on October 18, 2020.

The United States has begun a diplomatic campaign to ensure the continuation of a UN arms embargo on Iran.

This is while both Russia and China have already rejected the idea of extending the embargo.

The United States officially regardless of the UN Security Council 2231 withdrew from the JCPOA two years ago, but it claims that it is still one of the participants in the JCPOA and that it has the right to use the trigger mechanism.

The claim has received condemning reactions from Russia and China. 

China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations recently stressed that the United States has violated Security Council Resolution 2231 by withdrawing from the JCPOA, and United States has no right to extend arms embargo against Iran, let alone to activate the mechanism for the automatic return of sanctions.

Russia's foreign ministry also said the United States could not use UN Security Council Resolution 2231 to extend Iran's arms embargo.

US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the international agreement on Tuesday, May 8, 2018, in violation of Washington's commitments under the JCPOA, and announced the return of nuclear sanctions.

Trump's move has drawn widespread domestic and international condemnation.

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