Iran has conducted its first missile test since US President Donald Trump took office, giving the nascent administration an early opportunity to show the world how they plan to deal with a key US adversary.
A US defense official told CNN the medium-range missile was launched on Sunday, and that the test failed, posing no threat to the US or its allies in the region.
The United States Mission to the United Nations says it’s requesting that the UN Security Council hold a closed-door meeting to discuss the test, which it said involved the launch of a ballistic missile.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer in his Monday briefing confirmed the test occurred, but didn’t give any details on how the White House plans to deal with the Iranian show of force.
“We’re aware that Iran fired that missile, we’re looking into the exact nature of it,” Spicer said.
The nuclear deal
US Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a critic of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, called the missile launch a violation of Iran’s international commitments.
“No longer will Iran be given a pass for its repeated ballistic missile violations, continued support of terrorism, human rights abuses and other hostile activities that threaten international peace and security,” Corker said in a statement.
Israel also condemned the move; its ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, saying the launch defied Security Council resolutions and “revealed its true intentions.”
“The international community must not bury its head in the sand in the face of this Iranian aggression,” Danon said Monday.
President Trump was a harsh critic of the Iran nuclear deal during his campaign and vowed to renegotiate it.
The accord, negotiated by Iran, five members of the UN Security Council and Germany in 2015, put stringent limits on Iran’s nuclear program.
UN Security Council resolution 2231, which implemented the nuclear deal, also contained provisions calling upon Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”
In 2015, US officials said a surface-to-surface ballistic missile test “likely” violated UN Security Council Resolution 1929, which stipulates that Iran cannot engage in any activities related to ballistic missiles.
‘Insulting’
The missile test came after the President Trump signed an executive order Friday barring travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations, including Iran, from coming to the United States.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the move offensive and said it would take reciprocal measures.
“The US decision to restrict travel for Muslims to the US, even if for a temporary period of three months, is an obvious insult to the Islamic world and in particular to the great nation of Iran,” it said in a statement.