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Iranian regime’s continued illicit development and launching of ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear weapons

Pompeo Warns UN Security Council on Iran and Urges Result-Oriented Multilateralism



Pompeo Warns UN Security Council on Iran and Urges Result-Oriented MultilateralismU.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo traveled to New York on August 20 to participate in a UN Security Council debate on challenges to peace and security in the Middle East. The meeting was convened by Poland, which holds the presidency of the Security Council this month. Secretary Pompeo pointed to the continuing threat that the Iranian regime poses to peace and security in the Middle East region and beyond, providing examples of Iranian provocations such as the Iranian regime's seizure of ships in international waters and the regime’s support to terrorist proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
He warned the Council that the current arms embargo in place against Iran and the travel restrictions on Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Qods Force - the elite terrorist-spreading branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards - are due to expire in October 2020. “Time is drawing short to continue this activity of restricting Iran’s capacity to foment its terror regime,” Secretary Pompeo said. “The international community will have plenty of time to see how long it has until Iran is unshackled to create new turmoil, and figure out what it must do to prevent this from happening.” While other members of the Security Council paid lip service to some fanciful vision of multilateralism as an end in itself, Secretary Pompeo noted the Trump administration’s support for effective multilateral solutions rather than merely “gestures” or “talkfests.” As Secretary Pompeo told the press afterwards, “We support meaningful multilateralism that gets results and reflects our values.” During his Security Council remarks, Secretary Pompeo provided examples of how “the Trump administration is reviving America’s leadership role in the region by building and supporting coalitions to tackle regional challenges.” They included helping to dismantle ISIS’s physical caliphate and continuing “to work with 79 partners in the defeat ISIS coalition to help the region recover from that menace.” He mentioned the Bahrain workshop in June to bring together government, private sector, and civilian leaders to help improve the lives of the Palestinians. “And most recently,” Secretary Pompeo said, “the United States launched our effort to protect international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. We welcomed the United Kingdom and Bahrain as partners, and look forward to other nations joining this mission to protect freedom of the seas.”

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Noting the presence of Poland’s foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz, who presided over the Security Council meeting, Secretary Pompeo lauded the Warsaw Process and its working groups, created jointly by the United States and Poland, as another example of constructive multilateralism the United States is pursuing to “take on Middle East challenges with our friends, allies, and partners.” The working groups will focus on cybersecurity, human rights, maritime and aviation security, energy security, missile proliferation, counterterrorism, and humanitarian issues and refugees. “We call for all nations which have been invited to attend the initial meetings of the first five of those groups this fall,” he said, “and we express our gratitude to Bahrain, Romania, and South Korea for joining Poland and the United States in hosting them.” Although invited to attend the working group meetings, Russia’s UN First Deputy Permanent Representative, Dmitry Polyanskiy, derided the Warsaw Process as providing “no added value.” Secretary Pompeo did not expressly address in his Security Council remarks the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the United States withdrew from last year. However, the JCPOA was praised by other members of the Security Council as a great diplomatic achievement that needed to be preserved. “There is no better solution; there is no alternative,” said Karen Pierce, the United Kingdom’s UN ambassador. She is wrong. There is a better alternative – a more flawless agreement that is truly comprehensive in dealing, for example, with the Iranian regime’s continued illicit development and launching of ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear weapons. A better alternative would also require Iran to submit to unfettered international inspection of its military sites, where work on such nuclear weapons-related technologies as explosive devices is very likely going on as we speak.


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Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist -- Bio and Archives

Joseph A. Klein is the author of Global Deception: The UN’s Stealth Assault on America’s Freedom.


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