Russian diplomat urges Pompeo to stop provoking Iran, pumping arms into region

A senior Russian diplomat says US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo must stop provoking Iran and pumping weapons in the region if he wants a peaceful Middle East.

Dmitry Polyanskiy, the first deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UN, said Pompeo is expected to contribute to [a] peaceful Middle East by stopping to provoke Iran and to pump region with arms.”

“And please change [the] words ‘sanctions’ and ‘punishment’ in your vocabulary to ‘dialogue’ and ‘engagement’. That would help a lot! Make US respected again!” he added.

Everyone expects the US, Mr. Secretary of State,to contribute to peceful ME by stopping to provoke #Iran and to pump region with arms. And please change words“sanctions” and“punishment”in your vocabulary to “dialogue”and “engagement”.That would help a lot!Make US respected again! https://t.co/EUcXCbRm76
— Dmitry Polyanskiy (@Dpol_un) October 18, 2020

He made the comments in a post on his Twitter account, in which he quoted a tweet by Pompeo threatening those who may trade weapons with Iran.

“No nation that desires a peaceful Middle East should contemplate arms sales with Iran,” Pompeo said. “We are prepared to use domestic authorities to sanction individuals or entities contributing to these arms sales.”

Earlier in the day, Pompeo had released a statement in this regard, in which he threatened to impose sanctions on any individuals and entities that get engaged in arms transfer to and from Iran.

In the statement, he claimed that arms sales to Iran would violate UN resolutions and result in sanctions, hours after Tehran announced that the longstanding UN embargo on arms trade with the Islamic republic had expired.

“The United States is prepared to use its domestic authorities to sanction any individual or entity that materially contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer of conventional arms to or from Iran," Pompeo said in a statement.

The US secretary of state also claimed that, "Every nation that seeks peace and stability in the Middle East… should refrain from any arms transactions with Iran."

Russia says doesn’t care about US threat

Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, said his country’s defense sector has already got “all imaginable US sanctions” and there is nothing left to be worried about.

“Do you really think that we will take care about US decisions?” he asked.

“Our policy will be guided by other factors in their entirety, not by threats from you, guys,” he tweeted, reacting to the threat of sanctions in case of selling arms to Iran.

I suspect that we have got all imaginable US sanctions against our defence sector. Do you really think that we will take care about US decisions? Our policy will be guided by other factors in their entirety, not by threats from you, guys. https://t.co/vjtl3Q3U0d
— Mikhail Ulyanov (@Amb_Ulyanov) October 18, 2020