Picture obtained from the Iranian ISNA news agency on December 16, 2009 shows the test-firing of a medium-range missile. Security Council resolution 1929, still in force, prohibits this kind of launch.
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The BBC’s Bethany Bell in Vienna says sanctions against Iran could be lifted as early as the middle of January. A failure to provide the certification or a material breach by Iran would make available expedited procedures for consideration of legislation in Congress to reimpose sanctions.
The move is seen as a key step towards lifting sanctions put in place by the United Nations, European Union (EU) and United States of America (USA) due to the Nuclear programme of Iran.
Iran’s defence minister called Emad a “conventional missile” reiterating that the army would not accept “any restrictions on its missile programme”.
The panel’s report was dated last Friday and went to members of the Security Council’s Iran sanctions committee in recent days. “And the legacy of mistrust between Iran and the global community must be overcome”.
“Done”, a diplomat in the closed-door IAEA board meeting said by text message, adding that the decision was reached by consensus, meaning the resolution was unopposed.
Will US and Iran shake hands in 2017? Tehran denies ever seeking nuclear arms.
Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and not directed at creating weapons. Even some Democrats supported unilateral US action on the missile violations. “For over a decade, Iran has been non-cooperative and deceptive”, the ministry said in a statement.
Before the resolution’s adoption, agency head Yukiya Amano told the board that his investigation couldn’t “reconstruct all the details of activities conducted by Iran in the past”.
The United States is also looking at reports of a new ballistic missile test on November 24.
The conclusion of the council’s Panel of Experts on Iran will likely lead to calls for expanding sanctions against Tehran in Washington and some other Western capitals.
It remained unclear whether the Security Council will take any action.
Rohani is hurrying to carry out Iran’s side of the deal so as to bring about the removal of sanctions hobbling its oil-based economy before the parliamentary election in February.
Despite Iranian denials, the USA and its allies continue to believe that Tehran did work on components of a nuclear weapon. But the experts’ report noted that “ballistic missile launches would be covered” under the July 20 resolution.
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But now the UN’s nuclear watchdog has officially closed the book on its long-running investigation, saying there’s no evidence Tehran has done anything to further its nuclear weapons ambitions for at least six years.
