Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday its ballistic missiles were for self-defense and that recent tests condemned by the United States did not violate an historic nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers.
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Iran’s foreign minister on Monday defended the nation’s right to use ballistic missiles following a test last week, but offered no explanation for anti-Israeli messages reportedly written on them.
The council met Monday at the request of the United States to discuss the missile tests that US Ambassador Samantha Power has said were “provocative and destabilizing”.
“We can not force anybody to come back to Iran but if anybody wants to come back voluntarily, we always take our citizens with pride”.
At issue is a Security Council resolution adopted after the Iran nuclear deal was signed previous year calling for Iran not to launch any ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear weapon.
Resolution 2231, which was brought into effect in January, used the term “calls upon” Iran to avoid activity for ballistic missiles.
In a possible reference to Iran’s latest missile tests, Biden said: “All their conventional activity outside the deal, which is still beyond the deal, we will and are attempting to act wherever we can find it”.
Zarif also highlighted the common views of Iran and Australia on the fight against terrorism in Syria and Yemen, urging that Tehran and Canberra should work together in the campaign against Daesh.
In this photo obtained from the Iranian Fars News Agency, a Qadr H long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile is fired by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, during a maneuver, in an undisclosed location in Iran, Wednesday, March 9, 2016.
The United States has said that the launch did not violate the JCPOA, but could have violated at least one UN Security Council resolution, warning that it would address the issue appropriately with “unilateral and multilateral tools”.
It remains to be seen whether this relatively quick U.S. response will lead to stricter enforcement measures being imposed, but the repetitive nature of the Iranian violations certainly raises the level of pressure for such a response.
Experts say Iran’s new Emad surface-to-surface missile is more reliable than its predecessors such as these Shahab-2 long-range ballistic missiles.
Ms Bishop also raised Iran’s controversial missile tests – namely the political circumstances surrounding the timing and how Iran was being perceived by the global community.
At Iran’s insistence, its missiles were not on the table in the nuclear talks.
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Austrade officials visited Iran in November after a visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, earlier previous year.
