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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to invoke a provision in the Iran nuclear agreement, which the Trump administration pulled out of in 2018, in an effort to either extend an arms embargo on Iran or reimpose even harsher United Nations (UN) sanctions, The Hill reported, citing The New York Times.

The secretary reportedly plans to take that route should the UN Security Council (UNSC) decline to reimpose an arms embargo against Tehran when an existing embargo expires later this year. An extension of the arms embargo is expected to be opposed by Russia.

Should the UNSC fail to reimpose the arms embargo, the Trump administration's move to invoke the 2015 deal would likely be opposed by many of the U.S.'s European allies, the Times reported, in part due simply to the fact that President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran deal in 2018.

“We cannot allow the Islamic Republic of Iran to purchase conventional weapons in six months. President Obama should never have agreed to end the U.N. arms embargo," Pompeo said in a statement to the Times.

“We are prepared to exercise all of our diplomatic options to ensure the arms embargo stays in place at the U.N. Security Council,” he added.