Iran and Syria were listed among five countries that the U.S. State Department “certified under Section 40A(a) of the Arms Export Control Act as ‘not cooperating fully’ with U.S. counterterrorism efforts in 2019… This certification prohibits the sale or license for export of defence articles and services and notifies the U.S. public and international community that these countries are not fully cooperating with U.S. counterterrorism efforts”. Iran’s diplomatic spokesperson subsequently contended: “with a history of founding, funding and arming different terrorist groups, a record of state terrorism, and its outright support for another terrorist regime, the U.S. is not a good yardstick for measuring anti-terrorism efforts”.