US Ambassador to UN Kelly Craft speaks to reporters after attending her first Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 12, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Mike Segar.

JNS.org – US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft reaffirmed on Friday the Trump administration’s intention to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran ahead of it expiring later this year.

In a conference call with the media, Kraft said that “the US is going to exercise all of our diplomatic options to ensure that the UN arms embargo is extended. My job is to make sure that this arms-embargo extension happens.”

She added, “What I say to people is on October 18th— and this is what the Secretary has reiterated—do we want Russia selling weapons to Iran? Do we want China selling? Do we want anyone providing and/or selling weapons to Iran once this arms embargo … if we do not extend this embargo?”

Craft also said, “I’m stressing that Russia and China need to join a global consensus on Iran’s conduct. This is about the people—not only the people of Iran, but the people in the Middle East. We have to think about the unintended consequences and ramifications. This is an absolute imperative that we exercise all of our options to make certain that this UN arms embargo is extended.”

US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said on Friday that the door is open to Iran negotiating with the United States about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and other issues.

“[US President Donald Trump] has had the door open to diplomacy for many years, and in the same time frame, he has met [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un three times. So, we would like to see the [Iranian] regime meet our diplomacy with diplomacy,” he told reporters.