TEHRAN - Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations, has said that the United States’ policy of “maximum pressure” against Iran has little to do with diplomacy.

“Unexpected statement: an attempt to extend arms embargo ‘after years of diplomacy’. What kind of diplomacy? Maximum pressure policy has little to do with diplomacy. And in any case Washington started to raise the issue of arms embargo at the end of 2019. So months, not years,” Ulyanov tweeted on Monday.

His tweet came as response to a tweet by U.S. Secretary of States Mike Pompeo who wrote, “The GCC’s letter calling on the @UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo on Iran is a bold statement. The U.S. will introduce a resolution this week to extend the embargo after years of diplomacy. The Council must choose between arming terrorists or standing by the (Persian) Gulf.”

The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council has sent a letter to the UN Security Council, calling for extending an arms embargo against Iran, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

The PGCC includes the six Arab countries of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain that lie on the southern shores of the Persian Gulf.

Iran has called the PGCC statement “irresponsible” and said it does not include the views of all members.

The arms embargo on Iran is set to end on October 18 under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which Washington quit in 2018.

NA/PA