Historical examples
Indonesia
The US government imposed an arms embargo against Indonesia in 1999 because of human rights violations in East Timor. The embargo was lifted in 2005.
Iran
The United States imposed economic sanctions against Iran following the Iranian Revolution in 1979. However, to secure the release of American hostages, several senior Reagan administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran in the 1980s in a scandal called the Iran–Contra affair.[4] In 1995, the US expanded sanctions to include firms dealing with the Iranian government.[5]
In March 2007, UN Security Council Resolution 1747 tightened the sanctions imposed on Iran in connection with the Iranian nuclear program. The sanctions were lifted on 16 January 2016.
In September 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the imposition of an arms embargo on the Iranian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics and other entities involved in Iran's nuclear program, including the government of the disputed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for providing weapons to Iran.[6]
On 18 October 2020, Iran announced that the United Nations conventional arms embargo imposed on the country in 2007 had expired. The embargo had barred Iran from purchasing arms, including tanks and fighter jets, from foreign nations. The embargo was lifted as per the conditions under Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world leaders, despite US objections.[7][8]
Israel
During 2024, due to the genocide in Gaza, several countries such as Italy, Japan, Spain, Canada, Colombia, the Netherlands and Belgium have ceased the sale of weapons to Israel.[9][10][11] Key US allies such as Britain and France are debating it.[12]
However the United States and Germany as the major suppliers of Israel's arms imports keep supplying lethal weapons in spite of growing criticism of the mounting civilian casualties.[9][10]
On May 20, 2025, Spain’s parliament has voted to enshrine in law an arms embargo on Israel that the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, introduced to end “the genocide in Gaza”. During the vote to approve the decision, 178 members of parliament voted in favor, and 169 members of parliament from the right and far-Right voted against the proposal. The Spanish arms embargo would completely prevent the sale of weapons to Israel and the purchase of Israeli weapons by Spain.[13][14][15][16][17][18]
