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WORLD NEWS Monday 29 June 2020
AP Interview: U.S. envoy calls for Iran arms embargo renewal

By JON GAMBRELL try to buy Russia's S-400 an-
Associated Press ti-aircraft missile system and
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- its Bastian coastal defense
ates (AP) — An expiring missile system, the DIA said.
United Nations weapons Iran long has been out-
embargo on Iran must re- matched by U.S.-backed
main in place to prevent it Gulf nations like the UAE,
from "becoming the arms which have purchased bil-
dealer of choice for rogue lions of dollars of advanced
regimes and terrorist orga- American weaponry. In
nizations around the world," response, Tehran turned
the U.S. special representa- toward developing ballis-
tive to Iran said Sunday. tic missiles as a deterrent.
Brian Hook told The Associ- Hook declined to discuss
ated Press that the world an explosion Friday in Iran
should ignore Iran's threats near an area analysts be-
to retaliate if the arms em- lieve hides an underground
bargo set to expire in Oc- tunnel system and missile
tober is extended, calling production sites.
it a "mafia tactic." Among Being able to pay for new,
its options, the Islamic Re- foreign weapons systems,
public could expel interna- however, remains in ques-
tional inspectors monitor- tion. U.S. sanctions imposed
ing Iran's nuclear program, In this Nov. 29, 2018 file photo, Brian Hook, U.S. special representative for Iran, speaks at the after Trump withdrew from
deepening a crisis created Iranian Materiel Display at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington. Associated Press the nuclear deal have
by President Donald Trump crushed Iran's oil sales, a
unilaterally withdrawing the dark, it will do in broad Arab Emirates, as part of a systems in 2010 amid ten- major source of revenue.
from Tehran's 2015 atomic daylight and then some," Mideast tour. Hook met Sat- sions over its nuclear pro- Energy prices have also
accord with global powers. Hook said. Iran's mission urday with Emirati Foreign gram. That blocked Iran collapsed amid the pan-
The U.N. arms embargo so to the United Nations did Minister Abdullah bin Zayed from replacing its aging demic. Asked about how
far has stopped Iran from not immediately respond Al Nahyan and planned equipment, much of which Iran would pay for the new
purchasing fighter jets, to a request for comment Sunday to meet with other had been purchased by weapons, Hook said Teh-
tanks, warships and other on Hook's remarks. How- officials. Hook declined to the shah before the 1979 Is- ran's lowered revenues rep-
weaponry, but has failed to ever, President Hassan say where else he would lamic Revolution. An earlier resented "a good thing for
halt its smuggling of weap- Rouhani described 2020 as travel on his trip. Hook embargo targeted Iranian the region" and affected its
ons into war zones. Despite Iran's "most difficult year" spoke to AP journalists in arms exports. If the em- ability to back its regional
that, Hook argued both on Sunday due to the U.S. Dubai via videoconference bargo is lifted, the U.S. De- proxies, like Syria. "We have
an import and export ban economic pressure cam- as Abu Dhabi's borders re- fense Intelligence Agency put this regime through our
on Tehran must remain in paign and the coronavirus main closed to the UAE's six predicted in 2019 that Iran strategy on the horns of a
place to secure the wider pandemic.Hook made the other sheikhdoms over the likely would try to purchase dilemma," Hook said. "They
Mideast. "If we let it expire, comments while on a visit pandemic. The United Na- Russian Su-30 fighter jets, have to choose between
you can be certain that to Abu Dhabi, the capi- tions banned Iran from buy- Yak-130 trainer aircraft and guns in Damascus or butter
what Iran has been doing in tal of the U.S.-allied United ing major foreign weapon T-90 tanks. Tehran also may in Tehran." q
Myanmar destroys seized drugs worth more than $800 million

By THEIN ZAW ly it threatened to set fire Myanmar has a long history
Associated Press to an awning set up for the of drug production, fueled
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) occasion that firefighters by decades of civil war. The
— More than $839 million hurriedly doused with wa- government says some eth-
worth of seized illegal drugs ter hoses. nic armies -– which control
were destroyed in Myan- Authorities also destroyed large swaths of remote terri-
mar on Friday to mark the drugs in Mandalay, Lashio tory -– use narcotics to fund
annual International Day and in Taunggyi, the capi- their insurgencies. But crit-
Against Drug Abuse and Il- tal of eastern Myanmar's ics have accused elements
licit Trafficking, officials said. Shan state, all areas closer of Myanmar's government
The country has long been to where the drugs are pro- and army of profiting from
a major source of illegal duced. the trade themselves.
drugs for East and South- The Myanmar government The UNODC's regional rep-
east Asia, despite repeat- and the United Nations Of- resentative for Southeast Flames and smoke rise from burning illegal drugs during a
ed efforts to crack down. fice on Drugs and Crime Asia and the Pacific, Jer- destruction ceremony to mark International Day against Drug
In Myanmar's biggest city, announced in May a re- emy Douglas, recently said Abuse and Illicit Trafficking outside Yangon, Myanmar, Friday,
Yangon. a massive pile of cord haul of narcotics. Over there is now clear evidence June 26, 2020. Associated Press
drugs worth an estimated roughly a six-week period of the involvement of trans-
$144 million went up in a ending in early April, the national organized crime with little fear of capture. derivative, heroin.
spectacular blaze. It in- combined police and army groups. The area where the bor- In recent decades, produc-
cluded opium, heroin, operation seized around 18 The country's vast, moun- ders of Myanmar, Laos and tion has largely switched
methamphetamine, mari- tons of drugs in and around tainous and forested bor- Thailand meet became to synthetic drugs such
juana, ketamine and the a village in Shan state, in- ders mean producers can known as the Golden Tri- as methamphetamine,
stimulant known as ice, or cluding almost 200 million move large quantities of angle when it was notori- and now increasingly to
crystal meth. methamphetamine tab- cheaply produced drugs ous for the production and synthetic opioids such as
The blaze burned so fierce- lets, they said. into neighboring countries trafficking of opium and its fentanyl.q