An Iranian flag is pictured at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Jan. 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

A longstanding UN embargo on arms sales to and from Iran expired early Sunday in line with a 2015 landmark nuclear deal, the Iranian foreign ministry said.

"As of today, all restrictions on the transfer of arms, related activities and financial services to and from the Islamic Republic of Iran ... are all automatically terminated," the ministry said in a statement.

The embargo on the sale of arms to Iran was due to start expiring progressively from Sunday under the terms of the UN resolution that blessed the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and world powers.

"As of today, the Islamic Republic may procure any necessary arms and equipment from any source without any legal restrictions, and solely based on its defensive needs," the ministry added in the statement sent out on Twitter.

It insisted that under the terms of the deal, struck with the US, China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union, "the lifting of arms restrictions and the travel ban were designed to be automatic with no other action required."

US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the deal in 2018 and has unilaterally begun reimposing sanctions on Iran.

But Washington suffered a setback in August when it failed to win support from the UN Security Council to indefinitely extend the arms embargo.

It was "a momentous day for the international community," the Iranian ministry said on Sunday, adding the world had stood with Tehran "in defiance of the US regime's efforts."

But it stressed that "unconventional arms, weapons of mass destruction and a buying spree of conventional arms have no place in Iran's defense doctrine."

AFP