Sun Jan 8, 2017 | 7:25pm EST
U.N.
chief concerned Iran may have violated arms embargo: report
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah meets with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in this
handout picture released by Hezbollah Media office, November 8, 2016. Hezbollah
Media Office/Handout via REUTERS
·
By Michelle
Nichols | UNITED NATIONS
The United Nations chief expressed concern
to the Security Council that Iran may have violated an arms embargo by
supplying weapons and missiles to Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, according
to a confidential report, seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The second bi-annual report, due to be
discussed by the 15-member council on Jan. 18, also cites an accusation by
France that an arms shipment seized in the northern Indian Ocean in March was
from Iran and likely bound for Somalia or Yemen.
Most U.N. sanctions were lifted a year ago
under a deal Iran made with Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia, the United
States and the European Union to curb its nuclear program.
But Iran is still subject to an arms
embargo and other restrictions, which are not technically part of the nuclear
agreement.
The report was submitted to the Security
Council on Dec. 30 by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon before he was
succeeded by Antonio Guterres on Jan. 1.
It comes just weeks before U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened to either scrap the nuclear
agreement or seek a better deal, takes office.
"In a televised speech broadcast by
Al Manar TV on 24 June 2016, Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of
Hezbollah, stated that the budget of Hezbollah, its salaries, expenses, weapons
and missiles all came from the Islamic Republic of Iran," Ban wrote in the
report.
"I am very concerned by this
statement, which suggests that transfers of arms and related materiel from the
Islamic Republic of Iran to Hezbollah may have been undertaken contrary (to a Security
Council resolution)," Ban said.
When asked by the United Nations to
clarify the issue, Iran's mission to the United Nations said "measures
undertaken by the Islamic Republic of Iran in combating terrorism and violent
extremism in the region have been consistent with its national security
interests and international commitments."
Under a Security Council resolution
enshrining the deal, which came into effect a year ago, the U.N.
secretary-general is required to report every six months to the council on any
violations of sanctions still in place.
"Since 16 January 2016, I have not
received any report on the supply, sale, transfer or export to the Islamic
Republic of Iran of nuclear-related items undertaken contrary to the
(resolution)," Ban wrote.
In Ban's first report in July he said
ballistic missile launches carried out by Iran in March were "not
consistent with the constructive spirit" of a nuclear deal, but it is up
to the council to decide if they violated the resolution.
In the most recent report, he wrote that
since July "no information regarding Iranian ballistic missile activity or
ballistic missile-related transfers ... were brought to my attention or that of
the Security Council."
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by
Alan Crosby)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-un-idUSKBN14S0YH?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29
