US condemns Iran missile test

Iran said on Sunday its missile programme is defensive and not in breach of UN resolutions, the state news agency IRNA reported, without confirming a US allegation Tehran had carried out a new missile test.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday condemned what he described as Iran’s testing of a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads as a violation of the international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Pompeo warned in a statement released on Twitter that Iran is increasing its “testing and proliferation” of missiles and called on the Islamic Republic to “cease these activities.”

“Iran’s missile programme is defensive in nature… There is no Security Council resolution prohibiting the missile programme and missile tests by Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by IRNA in response to Pompeo’s remarks.

Qasemi did not confirm or deny that Iran had carried out a new missile test.

Under the UN resolution enshrining the 2015 nuclear deal with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, Iran is “called upon” to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons.

Iran has repeatedly said its missile programme is purely defensive and denied its missiles are capable of being tipped with nuclear warheads.

Qasemi, addressing Pompeo, said: “It is…ironic that you cite a resolution that you have not only breached through your unilateral and unlawful withdrawal form the [nuclear] accord but that you also encourage others to breach or even threaten to punish and sanction them if they carry it [accord] out.”

President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the nuclear deal, approved before he took office, in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. Trump said the deal was flawed as it did not include curbs on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles or its support for armed proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.

President Donald Trump pulled out of an international nuclear agreement in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran, criticising the deal for not including curbs on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles or its support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.

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Iran says its missile programme is purely defensive but has threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, if the United States tries to strangle Iranian oil exports.

Last month, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said US bases in Afghanistan, the UAE and Qatar, and US aircraft carriers in the Gulf were within range.

Pompeo’s statement provided few details about the latest Iranian missile test.

“The Iranian regime has just test-fired a medium range ballistic missile that’s capable of carrying multiple warheads,” he wrote in the tweet.

“This test violates UNSCR 2231,” he added, citing the United Nations Security Council’s endorsement of the international nuclear agreement. “We condemn this act.”

US defence secretary Jim Mattis, addressing a security forum in California, said the Iranian launch was significant and was a reminder that Tehran was unlikely to be deterred from pursuing missile technology or supporting militant proxies.

“It shows that our best efforts to try to talk them out of their aggressive support of terrorism is probably going to be as unsuccessful as the UN’s effort to stop them from launching missiles,” Mattis said.

He added that while the strategic threat from Iran was less significant globally than the one from North Korea, he said it was regionally significant.

“And it could grow beyond that if it’s not dealt with,” Mattis said.

The Islamic Republic’s government has ruled out negotiations with Washington over its military capabilities, particularly its missile program, which is run by the Revolutionary Guards.

On Tuesday, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran warned the European Union that Tehran’s patience was running out on the bloc’s pledge to keep up oil trading despite US sanctions.

He said Iran could resume enriching uranium to 20 percent purity if it fails to see economic benefits from the 2015 deal that curbed its nuclear program.