Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asserted that “the arms embargo on Iran – the world's leading state sponsor of terror – expires six months from today. The UN Security Council must extend the embargo before Iran's violence escalates and they start a new arms race in the Middle East”. Pompeo went on to argue that “in the last year, Iran fired ballistic missiles at its neighbours, mined and captured oil tankers, smuggled weapons into conflict zones and shot down a civilian passenger jet. We can't risk Iran buying more advanced weapons and transferring their arsenal to irresponsible actors”.