Trump Administration Reviews Means for Blocking Iranian Arms Trafficking in Gulf Waters

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying Houthi militias in Yemen with missiles. (AP)
Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying Houthi militias in Yemen with missiles. (AP)
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Trump Administration Reviews Means for Blocking Iranian Arms Trafficking in Gulf Waters

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying Houthi militias in Yemen with missiles. (AP)
Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying Houthi militias in Yemen with missiles. (AP)

Washington is considering means to swiftly bolster Saudi missile defense systems as a mechanism to slow down Iran’s arms trafficking in the region, said a report published on Saturday.

Iran is known to arm regional paramilitary militias such as “Hezbollah” in Lebanon and the Houthi coup factions in Yemen.

The Wall Street Journal wrote that the Trump administration is looking at ways to quickly strengthen Saudi Arabia’s missile defenses and disrupt the flow of advanced Iranian-made weapons across the Middle East as concerns grow over a destabilizing new crisis in the region.

"The state of uncertainty is not serving anyone, but Hezbollah and its allies,” an administration official told The Wall Street Journal. “The longer it goes on, the worse it is for Saudi interests and US interests and the interest of our friends.”

US forces could raise their efforts to confiscate Iranian arms shipments passing through Gulf waters, officials said.

Meanwhile, Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, said his country "does not ask for permission from others in its defense issues and programs, to have missiles or to determine our range."

French President Emmanuel Macron had said on Friday that Tehran should be less aggressive in the region and should clarify the strategy around its ballistic missile program.

“It does not benefit Mr. Macron and France to interfere on the missile issue and the strategic affairs of the Islamic Republic, which we have great sensitivities about,” Velayati said.

“What does this issue have to do with Mr. Macron? Who is he at all to interfere? If he wants relations between Iran and France to grow then he should try not to interfere in these issues.”

France said on Wednesday it wanted an “uncompromising” dialogue with Iran about its ballistic missile program and a possible negotiation over the issue separate from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.



France, UK and Germany Would Restore UN Sanctions on Iran Next Month without Progress on a Deal

The United Nations flag flies on a stormy day at the UN during the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
The United Nations flag flies on a stormy day at the UN during the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
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France, UK and Germany Would Restore UN Sanctions on Iran Next Month without Progress on a Deal

The United Nations flag flies on a stormy day at the UN during the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
The United Nations flag flies on a stormy day at the UN during the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

The United Kingdom, France and Germany have agreed to restore tough UN sanctions on Iran by the end of August if there has been no concrete progress on a nuclear deal, two European diplomats said Tuesday.

The three countries' ambassadors to the United Nations met Tuesday at Germany’s UN Mission to discuss a possible Iranian deal and reimposing the sanctions. The matter also came up in a phone call Monday between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of the three countries, according to two US officials.

The State Department said after the call that the four had spoken about “ensuring Iran does not develop or obtain a nuclear weapon.”

The officials and diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

The UK, France and Germany are part of an agreement reached with Iran in 2015 to rein in its nuclear program, from which President Donald Trump withdrew the US during his first term, insisting it wasn’t tough enough.

Under the accord that lifted economic penalties on Iran in exchange for restrictions and monitoring of its nuclear program, a so-called “snapback” provision allows one of the Western parties to reimpose UN sanctions if Tehran does not comply with its requirements.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters in Brussels Tuesday that the three European countries would be justified in reapplying sanctions.

“Without a firm, tangible, and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest,” Barrot said, according to Reuters. One of the diplomats confirmed his comments to The Associated Press.

The diplomats did not provide details of the deal being sought. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in recent days that Tehran would accept a resumption of nuclear talks with the US if there were assurances of no more attacks, following Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.

He said there should be “a firm guarantee that such actions will not be repeated, stressing that “the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has made it more difficult and complicated to achieve a solution."

The United States and Iran held several rounds of negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program before the Israeli strikes began in June. Trump and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said last week that talks would happen soon, but nothing has yet been scheduled.

Araghchi, whose country insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, said in a July 2 CBS interview that “the doors of diplomacy will never slam shut.”

Iran's UN Mission had no comment Tuesday on the threat of renewed sanctions if there is no deal.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said last week that the US airstrikes so badly damaged his country’s nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction. Iran has suspended cooperation with the IAEA.