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.

A top US Jewish group called on Tuesday for the UN arms embargo on Iran to be extended beyond its impending expiration date.

“We strongly support the measures in Congress calling for the extension of the UN arms embargo on Iran that is set to expire in October,” Arthur Stark, chairman, William Daroff, CEO, and Malcolm Hoenlein, vice chairman, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CoP), stated. “It is critically important for the security of US forces and interests in the region, and those of our allies including Israel, that Iran is not given the opportunity to amass additional weapons.”

“The countless incidents of aggression by Iran and its proxies over the past year alone demonstrate the need for continued restrictions on Iranian access to arms,” they continued. “Even with the embargo in effect, Iran is still providing weapons to its terrorist clients like Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad while also advancing its nuclear weapons program in defiance of the JCPOA. The stakes are already high enough.”

The CoP leaders concluded, “We hope to see Senate Resolution 509 and the letter from House Foreign Affairs Committee leadership to Secretary Pompeo, which both call for extending the UN arms embargo on Iran, each gain widespread bipartisan support in the coming days. We urge the UN Security Council to take action ahead of the embargo’s expiration this fall.”

An action alert sent out by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Tuesday said, “The world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism is on the brink of being able to import and export advanced weapons under international law. In seven months — on Oct. 18, 2020 — the UN arms embargo on Iran will expire. This development will make an already chaotic Middle East even more dangerous for America and Israel. Just last week, Iranian-backed proxies killed two Americans and one Briton in rocket attacks in Iraq. The United States must ensure that Iran is not given the green light to stockpile advanced weapons and accelerate its weapons proliferation to terrorist proxies across the region.”

“Please urge your members of Congress to support important bipartisan initiatives to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran,” it added.