US Envoy to UN Says Israel-UAE Normalization Will Help Counter Iran’s ‘Destabilizing Actions’ in Middle East
A display featuring missiles and a portrait of Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Sept. 27, 2017. Photo: Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi / TIMA via Reuters.
The US envoy to the UN on Tuesday told the Security Council that the recently-announced normalization accord between Israel and the United Arab Emirates would help contain Iran.
At a Security Council briefing on the Middle East, Ambassador Kelly Craft called the deal a “historic agreement,” asserting, “Opening direct ties between two of the Middle East’s most dynamic societies and advanced economies will transform the region by spurring economic growth, enhancing technological innovation, and forging closer people-to-people relations.”
“Direct military cooperation will benefit the entire region by countering the threat posed by Iran’s destabilizing activities in the Middle East and beyond,” she added.
“For years and up to today, Iran has defied international law by breaking the UN’s own weapons ban, providing militias and terror groups with the firepower to kill and maim men, women, and children across the Middle East,” Craft said, before lambasting her colleagues for their inaction on the issue.
“While members of the Council are so far unwilling to confront this daily threat to peace and security, the United States stands by the Arab world and Israel, as we work to maintain an arms embargo on the murderous Iranian regime,” she stated.
Referring to the Security Council’s recent refusal to extend an arms embargo on Iran, Craft said, “I only regret that other members of this Council have lost their way and now find themselves standing in the company of terrorists.”
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged visiting UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to adopt a harder line toward Iran and join US sanctions on the Tehran regime.
“Look at Iran’s aggression today, without a nuclear weapon,” Netanyahu commented. “What a huge danger Iran would be to the entire world if it did get a nuclear weapon.”