(Fox News) The Hamas war against Israel is slated to be given a potent shot in the arm if the U.S. and its European allies allow U.N. sanctions to be lifted on Iran’s capability to purchase and supply missiles to enemies of the U.S. and Israel, according to experts on Tehran.
This coming Wednesday is the so-called “Transition Day” when the expiration of the U.N.’s embargo against Iran’s ability to procure and sell missiles and drones goes into effect.
Richard Goldberg, who served on the National Security Council during the Trump administration as the director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction, told Fox News Digital, “The president gives a speech saying he is heartbroken about the images of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and opposes Hamas, and a week later, he hands a gift to Hamas’ sponsor, Iran. My heart breaks to see the president lift this embargo.”
Goldberg said the removal of U.N. sanctions on Iran’s missile program “will be a huge victory for Tehran that is simply serving as a reward for terrorism and proliferation around world.”
An Iranian military truck carries surface-to-air missiles past a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a parade on April 18, 2018, in Tehran. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
Iran’s ally, Hamas, murdered 1,400 people, including Americans, on Oct. 7 in southern Israel. Fox News Digital reported on Sunday that the late U.S.-designated Iranian global terrorist Qassem Soleimani was the architect of the mass murder, according to a Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) report.
Iran’s regime threatened Israel as the Jewish state prepares to launch an expected ground invasion into Gaza to root out Hamas terrorists and the entity’s military apparatus.
Earlier this month, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel was asked during a press briefing if the administration was looking to extend the embargo.
“We continue to have a number of tools at our disposal to hold Iran’s dangerous development and proliferation of missile-related technologies and UAVs – to hold those things accountable,” Patel said. “Obviously, UNSCR 2231 is not the only tool that is at our disposal. We have our own sanctions authorities. We have export controls. We have bilateral and multilateral engagements. We have already effectively targeted the same networks and individuals that would have been covered under a 2231 UNSCR violation, and we’ll continue to use our own sanctions authorities to hold the Iranian regime accountable.”
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 was passed by the 15-member body in 2015.
Pressed if the administration was willing to let it expire, Patel said there wasn’t “anything to preview on that now” while adding, “We have pretty credibly – if you look at our track record on this since the inception of this administration – have held the Iranian regime accountable for its malign and destabilizing activities, and we’ll continue to do so.”
Numerous Fox News Digital press queries to the State Department and White House went unanswered regarding the U.N. sanctions.
The U.N. Security Council meets at United Nations headquarters on July 13, 2023, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Goldberg, who is a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), noted that “it is an unforgivable policy choice at this moment. We can stop it from expiring. We could send a letter to the United Nations Security Council and trigger snapback sanctions.” He termed the Biden’s policy toward Iran “appeasement.”
“Washington’s silence on the lapse of U.N. missile prohibitions on Iranian missile testing and transfers is deafening. Iran’s missile proliferation radius keeps expanding, and with the lapse of U.N. restrictions this October, that will almost certainly grow to include Russia,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert and senior fellow at FDD, told Fox News Digital.
He added, “Make no mistake, though short of snapback, Europe’s decision to retain missile and nonproliferation sanctions on Iran is not an insignificant act. It is akin to their first ever violation of the deal. That’s big.”
The European members of the JCPOA, U.K., France and Germany, known as the EU3 announced last month that they had decided to keep their ballistic missile and nuclear proliferation-related sanctions on Iran in place.
