Pompeo asserted on Saturday that lifting the sanctions may give rise to violence in the Middle East. He said that last year, Iran fired ballistic missiles at its neighbors, 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,” he said.

The arms embargo on Iran is scheduled to be lifted in October, five years after it was set in conjunction with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed that year to curb Iran’s nuclear program.