Tehran says lifting of arms embargo will mark “day of US defeat”

The lifting of an international embargo on October 18 allowing Iran to buy and sell military hardware will be remembered as “the day of US defeat,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.

The ministry spokesman also declared victory over Washington’s “maniacal” sanctions, arguing that the US became too reliant on economic warfare to pursue its foreign policy agenda, and as a result eroded the effectiveness of such restrictions. The sanctions prompted Iran to develop foreign trade that was free of US interference, Khatibzadeh added.

He called on Europe to honor its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, which the US unilaterally withdrew from, warning that signatories who failed to keep their end of the bargain and acquiesce to US sanctions on Tehran would be “accomplices in the crimes against the Iranian people.”