What is the scope of the UNSC arms embargo?
UNSC Resolution 1483, of May 22, 2003, lifted the comprehensive trade sanctions on Iraq while retaining restrictions on the sale or supply to Iraq of arms and related matériel and their means of production. UNSC Resolution 1483 also reiterated certain provisions of related UNSC Resolutions 707 of August 15, 1991, and 687 of April 3, 1991. In particular, those provisions require that Iraq eliminate its nuclear weapons program and restrict its nuclear activities to the use of isotopes for medical, industrial or agricultural purposes. The provisions also mandate the elimination of Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons programs and its ballistic missile program. Note also that on June 8, 2004, the UNSC adopted Resolution 1546. In this resolution, the UNSC decided that prohibitions related to the sale or supply to Iraq of arms and related matériel under previous resolutions shall not apply to such items required by the Interim Government of Iraq or the Multinational Force in Iraq. However,
