National Rifle Association News investigative reporter Ginny Simone suggested that the NRA may have influenced Iran's attempt to block the enactment of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

Simone's claim that that Iran “all but came out and named the NRA” during a speech against the treaty on March 28 comes as a number of commentators and news outlets are noting that the few opponents of the Arms Trade Treaty include Iran, North Korea, Syria and the NRA.

On March 28, after a week of negotiations on a treaty with the stated aim of preventing the diversion of weapons to human rights abusers, Iran, Syria and North Korea made a last minute move to block a vote to adopt the treaty. The treaty could still be adopted at a later date by a vote of the U.N. General Assembly.

In covering these developments, Carol Giacomo, a foreign affairs expert and member of The New York Times' editorial board, noted that the NRA joins rogue nations in its opposition to the treaty:

But the conclusion reached on Thursday was stark: On one side, opposing the new pact, were three of the world's pariah states - Syria, Iran and North Korea. On the other side, favoring the new pact, was ... everybody else.

[...]

The opposition included the conservative Heritage Foundation and the National Gun Rifle Association. As usual they ginned up dark visions of how any limits on conventional arms sales would deprive Americans of their weapons, which is totally false: The Obama administration bent over backwards to make sure the treaty excluded domestic sales and, in any event, as the American Bar Association affirmed, the treaty did not and could not infringe on Americans' constitutionally-guaranteed Second Amendment Rights. 

The NRA and its lobbying arm, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, have so far remained silent on the negotiation outcome - even though the NRA fiercely lobbied against the adoption of the treaty during negotiations. On July 27, 2012, the day a previous round of negotiations stalled, the NRA issued a celebratory press release that took credit for “killing the U.N. ATT.” 

Simone, however, addressed the most recent developments during the March 28 edition of the NRA News' Cam & Company show on the Sportsman Channel:

SIMONE: You know earlier today everybody said, “We're pretty sure it's gonna pass.” They were saying earlier on that maybe there be problems with India. But it looks like that's been ironed out. And then all of a sudden right after lunch they came back and said it looks like there's problems with Iran. And then more we started talking to people the more the list got longer to include North Korea and Syria. And it was really interesting, Iran's statement. They all but came out and named the NRA, Cam. They said it didn't like the treaty because it favored the constitutional protection of gun ownership for one country. It didn't name the country. You got to be sure they were talking about the U.S. 

Simone's attempt to link the NRA to Iran's opposition to the treaty is worth noting, but her claim is dubious. The NRA's long-standing opposition to the treaty is based on its own unfounded conspiracy theory that the treaty is inconsistent with the Second Amendment, making it unlikely that Iran would cite the NRA as the responsible party for a treaty that favored gun rights in the United States.

As The New York Times notes, all three of the countries who stood to oppose the treaty are currently subject to arms embargoes. Given the treaty opponents' records on human rights, Iran, Syria, and North Korea are all likely concerned that the Arms Trade Treaty could interfere with the importation or exportation of weapons in those countries.

For its part, the NRA has framed its opposition to the treaty on a baseless conspiracy theory that the treaty would be used by the United Nations to disarm American citizens, a concern unlikely to be shared by Iran and the other treaty opponents.

While motivations may differ, it is clear that the NRA shares its opposition to the Arms Trade Treaty with pariahs of the international community.