The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) wrote the UN Security Council to posit that “it is inappropriate to lift restrictions [due to expire in October] on the supply of weapons from and to Iran until Iran gives up its destabilising activities in the region and stops supplying terrorist and sectarian organisations with weapons”. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hailed the statement as “bold”, affirmed that “the U.S. will introduce a resolution… to extend the embargo” and contended that the Security “Council must choose between arming terrorists or standing by the Gulf”. Iran’s diplomatic spokesperson asserted that the GCC’s “secretariat, swayed by the wrong and destructive policies and behaviour of certain member states, has turned into a mouthpiece for anti-Iran elements”.