U.S.
'As of Today, We're Officially Putting Iran on Notice
By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin
February 01,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Reuters"
-
Iran said on Wednesday it had test-fired a new ballistic
missile, prompting a tough response from a senior
adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Iran's defense
minister said the test did not breach the Islamic
Republic's nuclear agreement with world powers or a U.N.
Security Council resolution endorsing the pact,
Iran has
test-fired several ballistic missiles since the nuclear
deal in 2015, but the latest test was the first since
Trump entered the White House. Trump said during his
election campaign that he would stop Iran's missile
program.
"The recent
test was in line with our plans and we will not allow
foreigners to interfere in our defense affairs," Defence
Minister Hossein Dehghan told Tasnim news agency. "The
test did not violate the nuclear deal or (U.N.)
Resolution 2231."
Trump's
national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said the
United States was putting Iran on notice over its
"destabilizing activity" after it fired the missile.
"As of today,
we are officially putting Iran on notice," Flynn said,
without explaining exactly what that meant.
Flynn said the
missile launch defied the U.N. resolution that called on
Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic
missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear
weapons.
A U.S. official
said Iran had test-launched a medium-range ballistic
missile on Sunday and it exploded after traveling 630
miles (1,010 km).
The Security
Council held an emergency meeting on Tuesday and
recommended the missile testing be studied at committee
level. The new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,
Nikki Haley, called the test "unacceptable".
Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday that
Tehran would never use its ballistic missiles to attack
another country.
Some 220
Iranian members of parliament reaffirmed support for
Tehran's missile program, calling international
condemnation of the tests "illogical."
"The Islamic
Republic of Iran is against weapons of mass destruction,
so its missile capability is the only available
deterrence against enemy hostility," the lawmakers said
in a statement carried on state media on Wednesday.
The state news
agency IRNA quoted Ali Shamkhani, head of Iran's
National Security Council, as saying Iran would not seek
"permission from any country or international
organization for development of our conventional
defensive capability".
The Security
Council resolution was adopted to buttress the deal
under which Iran curbed its nuclear activities to allay
concerns they could be used to develop atomic bombs, in
exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
The resolution
urged Tehran to refrain from work on ballistic missiles
designed to deliver nuclear weapons. Critics say the
resolution's language does not make this obligatory.
Tehran says it
has not carried out any work on missiles specifically
designed to carry nuclear payloads.