TEHRAN – Iran confirmed on Tuesday that it had carried out a recent missiletest after Western powers sharply criticised a December 1 launch ofmedium-range ballistic missiles.
“We are continuing our missile tests and this recent one was a. significanttest,” the Fars news agency reported, citing Revolutionary Guards aerospacecommander Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh.
“The US reaction showed that it was a big thing for them and that it upsetthem,” Hajizadeh said, adding that Iran carried out between 40 and 50missile tests a year.
He said the test had put Washington “under pressure”, Fars reported.
Iran reined in most of its nuclear programme under a landmark 2015 dealwith major powers, but has continued to develop its ballistic missiletechnology.
A UN Security Council resolution adopted after the agreement calls on Iranto refrain from testing missiles capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, butdoes not specifically bar Tehran from missile launches.
The Security Council convened at the request of Britain and France onDecember 4 to discuss the latest test, which both governments described as”provocative” and “inconsistent” with Resolution 2231.
Britain said that the types of missiles fired had capabilities that “go waybeyond legitimate defensive needs”.
Iran insists the missiles are for defensive and deterrent purposes only.
It has twice fired its medium-range missiles in anger in recent months.
The first was against a Kurdish rebel base in neighbouring Iraq inSeptember following a series of cross-border attacks.
The second was against a jihadist base in eastern Syria in Octoberfollowing a deadly attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz.
Iran has developed several types of medium-range ballistic missile capableof reaching Israel or Western bases across the region.
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In its report, Fars did not specify the date of the latest test or saywhich types of missile were fired.
Washington, which quit the nuclear deal in May, described the test as anoutright “violation” of Resolution 2231 and called on the Security Councilto condemn it.
But veto-wielding Moscow has defended Tehran s right to carry out missiletests, and the December 4 meeting ended with no joint statement or any planfor follow-up action.
The council is due to meet again on December 19 for a regular review of theresolution s implementation.
Iran has received repeated certifications of compliance with the provisionsof the nuclear deal from the UN atomic watchdog.
Western criticism has focused instead on Tehran s missile programme and itsmilitary interventions in the region.
US President Donald Trump cited both issues as factors in his decision toabandon the nuclear deal with Tehran.
European governments have said they share US concerns but believe theyshould be addressed through a supplementary agreement, made more difficultto achieve by the hard line from Trump.
Washington has now reimposed all of the crippling unilateral sanctionsagainst Tehran it had relaxed under the nuclear deal and Europeangovernments have so far failed to deliver on a promised mechanism thatwould enable their own firms doing business in Iran to circumvent them.
Washington has meanwhile called on its European partners to slap unilateralsanctions of their own on Iranian individuals and organisations involved inthe missile programme. -APP/AFP
