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U.S. Calls Emergency Security Council Meeting Over Iranian Missile Launch

by TheTower.org Staff |

The United States will convene an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to address Iran’s latest ballistic missile launch, which defied a resolution adopted by the council to implement the nuclear deal.

Newly confirmed U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley is expected to attend the gathering, Fox News reported.

U.S. officials told Fox on Monday that Iran had test-launched a medium-range ballistic missile a day earlier, the first such incident since President Donald Trump was inaugurated earlier this month.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, called for the Security Council to “act immediately in response to these Iranian actions which endanger not only Israel, but the entire Middle East.”

Under Security Council resolution 2231, Iran is “called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”

State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said that the U.S. was looking into whether Iran had violated the resolution. “When actions are taken that violate or are inconsistent with the resolution, we will act to hold Iran accountable and urge other countries to do so as well,” he said.

Sen. Bob Corker (R – Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement on Monday saying, “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.”

“I look forward to working with my colleagues and the administration to hold Iran accountable for this and other violations while ensuring radical enforcement of existing restrictions on its nuclear program,” he added.

Trump and Saudi Arabian King Salman spoke on Sunday of the “importance of rigorously enforcing” the nuclear deal with Iran and “of addressing Iran’s destabilizing regional activities,” according to a readout of the call provided by the White House.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday that the launch did not violate resolution 2231 because Iran “announced that none of our ballistic missiles are designed to carry nuclear warheads,” according to Iran’s semi-official Press TV. However, then-CIA Director James Clapper told the Senate in 2014 that “Iran’s ballistic missiles are inherently capable of delivering WMD (weapons of mass destruction).”

Zarif also claimed Tuesday that Iran would never use its ballistic missiles to attack another country, Reuters reported. Yet in March of last year, Iran tested a ballistic missile with the phrase “Israel must be wiped from the face of the earth” inscribed on it. Two months later, it tested a missile with a range that could reach Israel and most of the Middle East.

[Photo: Tasnim News ]

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