Missile tests carried out on Wednesday came as Vice President Joe Biden visited with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who strongly opposed the U.S.-led Iran nuclear deal that took effect at the end of January.
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Iranian media has reported that these launches demonstrate the fact that Iran is ready to face any threats to its sovereignty, “Interfax” reports.
The top U.S. diplomat sent an email to Zarif, asking for negotiation, according to the report.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pledged to confront Iran and defend Israel from threats leveled against her, following new reports of Iranian missile tests.
The first test occurred Tuesday when the IRGC reportedly fired several missiles from different underground silos across the country; however the footage was seen only for one. In January, as existing sanctions eased under the nuclear deal, the USA announced a new set of sanctions that focused on 11 people and entities connected to Iran’s ballistic missile program.
Ban said it was up to the UN Security Council to determine whether this was in violation of resolutions banning the development of ballistic missile technology capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. The cold war for regional power between Tehran and Riyadh has intensified since the signing of the nuclear deal, and Riyadh and its GCC allies have recently increased pressure on Iran’s Lebanese militant ally Hizbollah.
General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace wing, said the longer-range missiles tested would be capable of hitting Israel, the region’s sole if undeclared nuclear power. “These missile launches constitute a blatant violation of Iran’s UN Security Council obligations, and such violations must have consequences”.
A nuclear deal between Iran and world powers including the U.S.is now underway, negotiated by the administration of moderate President Hassan Rouhani.
“Iran’s missile program will not stop under any circumstances”. Israel, which is believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Mideast, repeatedly has threatened to take military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran also has fired rockets near USA warships and flown an unarmed drone over an American aircraft carrier in recent months.
“Ballistic missile tests, support for [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad, support for Shiite militias in Iraq, all those things across the board so far, no change”.
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But Iran’s Students News Agency ISNA said on Thursday that Zarif and Kerry had not discussed the issue.
