Iran's ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, says Tehran's reaction to the possible extension of the arms embargo against Iran beyond October 2020 will be tough.

The United States has been persuading the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo which ends in October, five years after the conclusion of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Jalali said in an interview with Russian news agency RIA Novesti on Wednesday May 13 that Iran will respond to a possible extension of the arms embargo decisively but it will not initiate any military action.

Jalali said that Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has informed the leaders of the JCPOA member states of its decision about how to react to a possible extension of the arms embargo.

Calling the extension "provocative," Jalali reiterated that "The Islamic Republic of Iran has always advocated a peaceful and legal way of settlement."

He said: "Iran has never started a war during the past century, but it has at times defended itself against attacks."

Meanwhile, Jalali claimed that during the past five years, Tehran had to turn down proposals to export weapons due to the embargo, but he did not say which countries wanted to buy weapons from Iran.

The 2015 deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) restricted Iran's right to purchase and sell conventional weapons for five years. Instead, they lifted all the sanctions imposed on Iran before the nuclear agreement.

The measure is intended to control Iran's destabilizing military interventions in the Middle east and beyond.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti earlier that the current special regime for the supply of arms and military equipment to Iran should expire after a five-year period and there could be no deviation from this decision.

At the same time, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted that the United States will do everything to extend the arms embargo against Iran and prevent Tehran from purchasing weapons from Russia or China.